Kamala Harris’s Student Loan Policies: Everything You Should Know

What are Vice President Kamala Harris’s student loan policies and views on student loan forgiveness? What could we expect of a Harris administration if she wins the 2024 Presidential election? 

We’ll discuss proposals the Vice President has supported in the past, what she’s done as Vice President, and predict what will happen next for student loans if she wins the White House.

How Kamala Harris went from moderate to progressive on student loan forgiveness

As a Presidential candidate in 2020, Kamala Harris supported a very narrow version of student loan forgiveness compared to the cancellation program the Biden-Harris administration tried to achieve from 2022 to 2023.

Alongside Joe Biden, she evolved from being deeply skeptical about widespread cancellation to being one of its biggest champions.

Let’s examine how this happened.

The Kamala Harris moderate 2020 student loan forgiveness proposal

In 2020, then-Senator Harris proposed canceling up to $20,000 of student debt for Pell Grant recipients who started businesses in underserved communities.

That would’ve been a three-prong test to get any amount of forgiveness or cancellation at all. 

Assuming there would have been an application or paperwork requirement, it’s likely that relatively few borrowers would have benefitted from this.

By supporting a relatively narrow forgiveness program, then-Senator Harris might have thought that her more modest bill would have an excellent chance of becoming law if she had won.

However, progressive groups criticized her plan for being confusing and not going nearly far enough.

Kamala Harris becoming progressive on student loans as Vice President

Even though she started with moderate proposals on student loans, Kamala Harris has helped achieve more progressive student loan policies than any other administration in history.

This happened gradually, but after success with programs like the PSLF Waiver, the Department of Education continued to expand.

Vice President Harris has been a staunch advocate and vocal supporter of the Biden-Harris administration’s student loan relief programs. Along with the PSLF waiver, these programs include the IDR account adjustment, the Saving on a Valuable Education plan (SAVE), cancellation, and the “Plan B” hardship forgiveness rules expected to roll out in October 2024.

The programs the Biden-Harris administration proposed would have cost hundreds of billions if enacted, but they actually achieved more than $160 billion in relief and counting.

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Student debt was one of the first big policy portfolios for Kamala Harris

Most mainstream media outlets suggest that Vice President Harris was sometimes given a limited policy portfolio, especially at the beginning of the administration.

Reporting from outlets such as CNN portrayed mutual frustration between the Vice President’s team and the White House over her role in 2021 and early 2022.

Amid this tension, student debt became one policy area where her name was constantly mentioned early on as President Biden began to push student loan reforms out the door.

Almost every press release relating to student loans I’ve read over the past nearly four years has always read “Biden-Harris administration” and not “Biden administration.”

The Vice President also gave a significant number of speeches and remarks about student loan initiatives the White House was promoting.

Student debt seems to be an issue Kamala Harris cares a lot about. It stands to reason that if she wins in 2024, she'd continue where President Biden left off. So, let’s make some predictions.

What President Kamala Harris might propose on student loans

Here are some predictions on student debt if Kamala Harris wins the White House:

1. Continued legal defense of student loan programs created by executive action, such as the SAVE plan and “Plan B” cancellation.
2. Additional rule-making sessions to try and make bankruptcy, forgiveness and payment terms more generous.
3. New legislative proposals to rewrite the Higher Education Act to make the SAVE plan permanent.
4. New interest subsidy and interest forgiveness proposals. 
5. More politically progressive appointments to the Department of Education. With Vice President Harris’s evolution on the student debt issue, she'd likely build on President Biden’s large numbers of appointments of progressive-leaning student debt advocates and policy experts to the Department of Education.

Expect lots more executive actions on student loans in a Harris administration

If “Plan B” cancellation fails in front of the Supreme Court, we'd likely see a new and narrower “Plan C” cancellation until something succeeds.

If she wins the White House and courts say her plans are too broad, she could continue introducing new student loan programs that are narrower and narrower until something succeeds.

After all, the Obama administration successfully introduced the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plans without much Republican attention or opposition.

Meanwhile, President Biden's student loan proposals, which carried a price tag of over $100 billion, were targeted by large numbers of lawsuits (cancellation, SAVE plan, etc.).

Whereas programs with a price tag under $100 billion tended to face little to no legal opposition (e.g., PSLF waiver, IDR account adjustment, etc.). 

Why not to wait on new student loan programs from a Harris White House

Vice President Harris would first have to win the 2024 election to have any impact on student loans going forward. 

Assuming she does, she could very well encounter a challenging obstacle in a conservative Supreme Court. It’s also possible that student debt would conflict with other political priorities if the only avenue for relief was proposing legislation, which has to be paid for, in contrast with executive actions, which do not.

Hence, it’s more likely than not that once the Supreme Court makes up its mind on the SAVE plan, not a huge amount will change unless a Kamala Harris victory also brings Democratic control of Congress.

Given the current rules regarding student debt, if you need a plan, get one from our team of student loan experts.