Outstanding federal student loan debt exceeds $1.6 trillion and is owed by about 45 million borrowers. Since taking office, the Biden Administration has taken various actions to address student loan debt. These actions have ranged in scope (both in terms of borrower populations affected and associated modification costs), rationales, and the…

The Code of Virginia directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to submit an annual report to the House Committees on Labor, and Commerce and Education, and the Senate Committees on Commerce and Labor, and Education and Health on the implementation and overall effectiveness of the Office of the Qualified Education Loan…

The population of adult learners with Some College, No Credential (SCNC) has risen over the years to over 40 million individuals. A smaller subset of this population has debt that they owe their institutions directly in addition to state, federal, or private loans. As of 2020, approximately 6.6 million students owed more than $15 billion in…

The Code of Virginia directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to submit an annual report to the House Committees on Commerce and Labor and Education, and the Senate Committees on Commerce and Labor and Education and Health on the implementation and overall effectiveness of the Office of the Qualified Education Loan…

The North Carolina Promise (NC Promise) is an education subsidy program that sets in-state tuition at $500 per semester and out-of-state tuition at $2500 per semester for all undergraduates at four campuses of the University of North Carolina (UNC) System campuses applies to all undergraduate students beginning with the Fall 2018 semester. A goal…

At the beginning of July, President Donald Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), a comprehensive package of reforms to taxes and government spending. While the package touches on myriad policy areas, it includes a comprehensive set of reforms to the federal student loan program. These represent some of the most consequential…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act made several changes to the FAFSA, including changing the formula for determining student financial assistance need and simplifying the application. The rollout of the redesigned 2024-2025 FAFSA application encountered issues that affected students' ability to apply for aid.…

College promise programs can be found in every state in the country, though they vary widely in design. Most programs aim to reduce the tuition and fees students pay with the goal of increasing educational attainment and reducing the financial burden on students. The NC Promise policy functions in this space by reducing tuition for all students…

For workers employed in the public and nonprofit sectors, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program offers the potential for full forgiveness of federal student loans for those with 10 years of full-time work experience. A year-long waiver issued by the Department of Education in 2021 to address administrative problems in program access…

Obtaining a college degree is positively correlated with gains in socioeconomic mobility. However, college is expensive. Given the importance of college in increasing social mobility, lawmakers have proposed eliminating student debt. Joe Biden, for example, has incorporated eliminating student debt into his presidential campaign promise. While…

In recent years, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program has garnered more attention among student loan borrowers in the United States as a potential source of loan relief. However--at least prior to the PSLF Program Overhaul introduced in October 2021--arduous eligibility criteria, opaque communication on the part of the U.S. Department of…

In early 2020, in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump Administration declared a public health emergency under the Public Health Service Act, a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act, and a nationwide emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Congress and the U.S.…

The Biden administration is implementing a new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan for federal student loans called Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE). The SAVE plan adds to existing IDR plans and reduces borrowers' monthly payments and shortens the time certain borrowers must repay before their debts are forgiven compared with current options.…

Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) introduced the College Cost Reduction Act (CCRA) in the 118th Congress. The act introduced a set of proposed changes to federal higher education policy, including new annual and aggregate limits on federal lending. Some stakeholders have speculated that the Republican majority in the 119th Congress might advance…

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAA) National Student Aid Profile is an annual publication designed to give a high-level overview of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This report presents an overview of: (1) The Federal Pell Grant Program; (2)…