The Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to hear arguments over President Biden's student loan forgiveness program in late winter, making it likely that the court will issue a decision in late June, the Associated Press reported, or about two months before the latest pause on student debt payments expires.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court said the program to forgive up to $10K in student loans for most borrowers and up to $20K for Pell Grant recipients will remain blocked. The administration had wanted a court order that would have allowed the program to proceed at the same time that court challenges were made, the AP said.
More than 26M people had already applied for relief, with 16M of them approved. But the Department of Education stopped processing the applications in November after a federal judge in Texas ruled against the program.
In another lawsuit, which was filed by six states, a three-judge panel put the plan on hold. That's the case that's going to the Supreme Court.
Conservative attorneys and Republican lawmakers argue that President Biden overstepped his authority, and is sidestepping Congress. Meanwhile, The administration contends that under the HEROES Act it's allowed to modify student financial assistance programs as the Education Secretary "deems necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency."
Regarding student loan-related stocks, SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI), shares fell 2.1% during the session, Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) rose 0.4%, Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) stock gained 3.6% after it was upgraded by Morgan Stanley, and SLM Corp. (NASDAQ:SLM) slipped 0.2%.
In November, Biden extended the pause on student loan payments by six more months as the lawsuits work their way through the courts.
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