The Department of Education recently announced a successful first year of its new program, loosening the standards it uses in determining whether to oppose people seeking an “undue hardship” of their student loans, once they have filed for bankruptcy. The Biden administration’s program, which kicked off in November 2022, has allowed many people to get student loan relief for which they would not have otherwise been entitled.
In light of the success of the program, which was tweaked over the course of the year, no changes are upcoming. It should be noted that this is an executive branch initiative, and the substantive law was not changed by Congress. Consequently, it is not known how much longer this will be in effect, and there’s certainly no guarantees that it will continue if the administration changes after the next election cycle.
For years I have told people that I can’t really help with student loans, but now we can, at least federal loans.