Biden scraps rule requiring student borrowers to acknowledge previous loans

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House Republicans sharply criticized the Biden administration for eliminating a requirement that student loan borrowers acknowledge how much they already owe when seeking more loans.

The Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment was set in place by the Trump administration in 2019 and would have required students and parents to review their previously disbursed student loans before another loan disbursement could be made.


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The office of Federal Student Aid announced the change on Friday, directing schools to “adjust borrower notifications and make system modifications” so that borrowers are aware that the acknowledgment is no longer required.

The acknowledgment can still be filled out and remains on the studentaid.gov website but will “not be required for the 2022–23 award year and beyond.”

In a statement, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the top Republican on the House Committee on Education and Labor, said the elimination of the requirement was “ridiculous in principle and harmful in practice” and would help exacerbate the student debt crisis.

“We should do everything we can to help student borrowers understand the gravity of taking out tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt,” Foxx said. “Shielding student borrowers from the reality of these significant financial decisions does them a major disservice that could have life changing ramifications.”

According to the Education Data Initiative, the federal government currently holds over $1.5 trillion in student loans, with the average borrower owing $36,510. Foxx and others have argued that federal subsidies for higher education, including federal loan programs, have greatly contributed to the increase in the cost of college tuition.

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“Allowing borrowers to blindly take on more debt than they can handle is indefensible and reflects the Biden administration’s reckless commitment to perpetuating our broken financial aid system,” she said. “Next time Democrats look for a culprit to blame for the student debt crisis, I suggest they look in the mirror.”

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