Kamala Harris remains silent on student loans as cancellation loses political luster

At an election rally in April, the President Joe Biden told a Wisconsin audience about his latest “life-changing” student loan cancellation plan, promising financial aid for more than 30 million Americans.

But Kamala Harris since replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, he has avoided the issue at political events. The vice president’s platform mentions it only twice and without a specific plan. In an effort to court moderate voters, Harris has focused on policies aimed at Americans without college degrees.

“For too long, our nation has promoted only one path to success: a four-year college degree,” Harris said in September in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. “Our nation must recognize the value of other paths.”

In just a few years, student loan cancellation has transformed from a mainstay of the Democratic Party into a political liability. Once seen as a sure-fire way to galvanize young voters, it has now become a cudgel for Republicans, who say it gives an advantage to elites and comes at the expense of those who defaulted on loans or didn’t go to college.

The issue came up only once during the September presidential debate, when the Republican Party Donald Trump sharply criticized Harris and Biden for not keeping their promise of universal concert cancellations. The former president called it a “total disaster” that “taunted young people.”

“They didn’t even come close to getting their student loans,” Trump said.

Biden, who once questioned the legality of mass student loan forgiveness, campaigned on the issue after progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent Vermont, made it a mainstream idea. But as president, Biden faced constant challenges from Republican opponents. For approximately 42 million For those with federal student loans, their hope of being forgiven has turned to resignation and disappointment.

Biden’s first plan to cancel up to $20,000 for millions of people was blocked by the Supreme Court last year. A federal judge stopped the second, narrower plan after Republican-led states sued. The judge also halted a separate policy aimed at lowering loan payments for borrowers struggling to repay their debts, including after it was challenged by Republican-controlled states.

The Biden administration took further action on Friday another attempt at student loan forgivenessNfocusing on Americans who face significant financial burdens beyond student loans. He faces an uncertain future, arriving less than two weeks early Elections on November 5.

Michelle Diminodirector of the education program at the centrist think tank Third Way, said legal uncertainty likely contributed to Harris’ lack of emphasis on canceling classes. She she added that her base is also familiar with the matter.

“There’s not much new to offer until we know what’s going to happen in the courts,” Dimino said. When Biden first proposed a broad recall, it was a solution that had not been tried. “The situation now is completely different than in 2020, when everything was clean.”

Harris’ silence also signals a political risk, especially in a tight election. Any new promise to cancel the loan would galvanize Republicans, who have made it a rallying cry. For voters who could benefit from a canceled election, it’s a promise they’ve heard before.

“The Harris campaign has realized that this is not necessarily a winning political issue,” she said Preston Coopersenior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The student loan agenda fell apart and didn’t really help them get any voice,” Cooper said.

Even moderate Americans seem skeptical about student loan forgiveness. June survey from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center found that 3 in 10 U.S. adults said they approved of Biden’s work on student debt, and it wasn’t much better among loan repayers. Just over half of Democrats supported the president’s performance, while 18% of independents said the same.

Harris’ campaign declined to provide details or answer questions about her cancellation plan.

Its platform only mentions student loans after a full page of policies aimed at workers without a degree. At a September rally in Pennsylvania, Harris was met with applause when she announced she would eliminate unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs. She made no mention of student loans in her 20-minute speech.

“Requiring a certain degree is not necessarily an indication of ability,” Harris told an audience at Wilkes University, a private university in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Harris’ comments echo a traditional Republican position that Democrats are increasingly adopting as more Americans question the value of a college degree.

“Student loan forgiveness … could discourage some of the support Harris hopes to get from people who don’t have a college degree,” he said Andrzej Gillenresearch fellow at the libertarian Center for Educational Freedom Cato Institute. “These types of polarizing topics poison the well with other issues that have bipartisan support. Once issues like student loan forgiveness are resolved, I think there will be a lot more of this bipartisan agreement.

This is one of the few areas of common ground between Harris and Trump.

In his platform, the former Republican president said he would “support the creation of additional, dramatically cheaper alternatives to traditional four-year college degrees.” There is no mention of loans. Trump opposed the recall, saying it was illegal.

“President Trump will implement real solutions that will make education, housing and the cost of living affordable again for young people so they can achieve the American Dream,” he added. Caroline Leavittnational press secretary for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, told the AP.

Student loan advocates point to Trump’s vague promises, failure to address public loan forgiveness and the appointment of judges who have obstructed broad student debt forgiveness. “Trump is proud of his work to hurt working families,” he said Melissa Byrnepolitical organizer who pushed for the recall.

As California’s attorney general, Harris led efforts to punish for-profit colleges for defrauding borrowers. As a 2019 presidential candidate, Harris proposed a narrower path to loan forgiveness than the one pushed by Sanders and the senator. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts. Harris’ plan would provide $20,000 in aid to each federal Pell Grant recipient who started a business in a disadvantaged community and operated it for three years.

After the Biden administration announced earlier this month that it would canceled loans for over 1 million public service workers Harris released a statement praising this work, again broadly promising to continue to make “higher education more affordable.”

Aissa Canchola Bañezpolitical director of Protect Borrowers Action, said Harris’ record on reducing student debt suggests she will keep promises made under Biden.

“This is an issue she has been working on long before she came to Washington,” Canchola Bañez said, pointing to the unprecedented amount of student loan debt forgiven under the Biden administration. “We saw the vice president very emphatically applaud the relief that has come so far.”

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Republished with permission from the Associated Press.

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