The Supreme Court is set to begin its summer recess very soon but still has some big cases to rule on before it does. One of these is the Biden administration's plan to forgive as much as $20,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower. The plan has been making its way through legal challenges for months.
Until we hear the court's decision, there's no way to know which way the court will rule. In oral arguments, the justices seemed skeptical of the legality of the forgiveness plan but weren't convinced of the merits of the lawsuits challenging it.
The Supreme Court recently said that it planned to release more rulings on Thursday, and there's a high probability that the ruling on student debt forgiveness will be included. So, here's what you need to know.

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What is happening?
The Biden Administration announced its plan to provide relief for student loan borrowers in August 2022. In addition to the headline news of debt forgiveness of either $10,000 or $20,000 for most federal student loan borrowers, the plan also calls for the creation of a new income-driven repayment plan, as well as the prevention of unpaid interest from accumulating on loan balances.
The forgiveness portion was challenged almost immediately by political opponents and made its way to the Supreme Court in December, where it has been ever since. Arguments took place in late February, and the court is expected to issue its ruling before its recess that runs from July until October. The court issued several other rulings on Tuesday of this week and said that it planned to release additional rulings on Thursday.
What happens if the Supreme Court rules in favor of loan forgiveness?
Aside from the obvious, if the Supreme Court decides that Biden's plan is legal and can proceed, borrowers will likely see the Department of Education's forgiveness-application portal reopen quickly. Millions of borrowers had already applied for forgiveness at the time of the legal challenges, and many others are automatically eligible because the DOE has their income information from previous paperwork, so it's likely that forgiveness could start happening very soon after a positive ruling.
That said, we have no idea about the timetable, application deadlines, etc. And we also haven't heard about if and when the rest of the student loan relief plan (such as the new income-based repayment plan) could go into effect.
What happens if the Supreme Court blocks loan forgiveness?
If the Supreme Court blocks the loan forgiveness plan, the obvious result is that federal student loan borrowers wouldn't see their balances decline. But there are a few questions that we don't have the answers for.
For one thing, the Biden administration could choose to accept the ruling or come up with some sort of Plan B. It could attempt to use a different legal strategy to implement a revised forgiveness plan, but if it does this, there's the chance that it could get blocked as well.
Alternatively, the administration could take other steps designed to make the resumption and burden of student loan payments easier on borrowers. For example, there could be some sort of grace period to enroll in a new repayment plan, or the new income-driven plan could be expedited.
Stay tuned
The key takeaway is that even if we knew which way the Supreme Court will rule (which we certainly don't), there's a lot we don't know about what happens next. If you're a student loan borrower, be sure to keep up with not only the court ruling, but any guidance or news that comes after.