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student debt relief
Advocates Decry Senate Confirmation of 'Anti-Abortion Extremist' to Lifetime Federal Court Seat
"Divine's confirmation makes clear that Trump lied to voters when he said he would 'leave it to the states,' and he is actively working to eliminate abortion access nationwide," said a prominent reproductive rights advocate.
Jul 22, 2025
Several advocacy groups expressed outrage on Tuesday after the United States Senate voted to confirm Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine to be a United States District Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri.
Divine, who was confirmed by a vote of 51 in favor to 46 against, is one of several judicial nominees of U.S. President Donald Trump who has been singled out by advocates for what they describe as his extreme record on a number of issues ranging from reproductive freedoms to LGBTQ rights to relief for student loan borrowers.
Every member of the Senate Democratic caucus voted against Divine’s confirmation with the exception of Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who voted in favor. All Republicans voting in the Senate on Tuesday supported Divine’s confirmation, while three GOP senators—John Kennedy of Louisiana, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky—did not vote.
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of abortion rights advocacy organization Reproductive Freedom for All, argued that Divine's nomination and confirmation were a sign that Trump and the GOP would not be content to leave abortion rights up to individual states.
"Divine's confirmation makes clear that Trump lied to voters when he said he would 'leave it to the states,' and he is actively working to eliminate abortion access nationwide," she said. "Federal courts are a critical line of defense to preserve reproductive healthcare, and these appointments are a dangerous sign of what's to come."
Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director of the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), accused Divine of building a political career on the backs of student loan borrowers who were in dire need of relief from the massive debts they incurred while pursuing an education.
"Time and time again in his lawsuits challenging legal student loan payment and relief programs, Divine took extreme positions at odds with traditional judicial interpretations related to injury, standing, and venue," he said. "Because of Divine, millions of student loan borrowers remain buried in crushing debt. Divine's actions exceeded the bounds of zealous advocacy and were a direct affront to judicial procedure. Americans deserve a judge who will review the facts of the case before them and apply the law under the Constitution and as passed by Congress—not an ideologue who will manipulate those laws to obtain the outcome he prefers."
Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program and an advisor at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, didn't focus on any specific issue and instead took an all-of-the-above approach to condemning what she described as Divine's unfitness for the federal bench.
"The Senate's confirmation of Joshua Divine to the federal bench in Missouri... installs into a lifetime judgeship an individual who does not possess the requisite experience to be a federal judge and who has time and time again demonstrated significant hostility to our civil and human rights," she argued. "His limited legal career—which includes a record of intense opposition to reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, student loan borrowers, and more—is disqualifying. Our courts, our communities, and our democracy deserve better. Senators must ensure that judicial nominees are fair-minded, actually qualified for the job, and faithful to the rule of law and Constitution rather than to an anti-civil rights agenda."
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'Death Should Not Be the Only Relief': Seniors Lead Their First Action Against Student Debt
"This week for the first time in history, older student debtors have gone to Washington to demand our student loan debts get canceled in our lifetime, not at our funerals," one older debtor said.
Sep 13, 2024
Carrying mock tombstones reading, "Death is not a relief plan" and "Stop burying us in debt," a group of older debtors held the first-ever senior-led mass action for student debt relief outside the White House on Thursday.
Borrowers over 50 are the fastest-growing demographic of student debtors, and some of them are calling on the Biden-Harris administration to take advantage of federal regulations that empower the Department of Education to cancel debt based on age.
"The only comprehensive student debt relief plan that the federal government offers right now is death," Debt Collective creative media strategist Maddie Clifford said in front of the White House. "That is the only way people can escape from these student loan payments."
The participants in the vigil, who collectively owe more than $1 million in student loans and include members of the Debt Collective's "50 Over 50" caucus, shared their stories as they demanded relief.
"I would have never imagined approaching my 60th birthday with $211,388 worth of student debt," said Renita Walker, a Debt Collective member from Sandy Springs, Georgia. "The idea itself is paralyzing. It is the realization that I will probably work myself to death, literally."
Walker took out loans both to continue her education as a single mother after her husband died and to help her two children pay for school. The loan payments ballooned to the point that she was paying $1,800 a month until she took money out of her 401(k) to bring the payment down to around $1,300 a month, still more than her mortgage.
"I just want to say like many of the people here standing behind me, this was not something we asked for," Walker said. "Unfortunately, the system is broken and we have to live with the results of that."
"For decades, millions of older debtors have crouched in shame, imagining ourselves as failures when in reality the system has failed us. But we will no longer be duped into suffering alone."
Fellow Debt-Collective member and Georgia resident Athena Blue, a 67-year-old retired nurse, also took out Parent Plus loans to pay for her children's education.
Blue spoke of overcoming the shame of indebtedness by learning the history of how former U.S. President Ronald Reagan had pushed for the current student loan system in order to make it more difficult for working-class Americans to attend university as a backlash to campus protests in the 1960s and 70s.
"The debt that I'm in isn't my fault," Blue said. "It was created purposely by people like former President Ronald Reagan who believed that only certain people should have the right to higher education."
Blue said she had managed to pay off all of her interest on her loan in 2020 when it was transferred to another provider and she had to start over.
"This burden of a loan threatens my retirement," Blue said, "So how can you, Congress, the Department of Education, and the White House allow this to continue? How can you allow seniors to be subject to predators like this? Have you no moral compass? No shame?"
Debt Collective member Alicia Barnes, who joined the Navy to avoid taking on any more debt, said she had discovered in a meeting with the Department of Education that day that her service provider had illegally placed her debt into default while she was deployed.
"Instead of including a Suicide Hotline for veterans on every piece of communication we receive, the causes of these tragedies should be met with real solutions including absolving some of the debt we accrued during our service because of this compounded interest and illegal activity by these debt collectors," Barnes said.
Every speaker at Thursday's vigil was a woman, as are the majority of student loan debtors. A disproportionate number of student debtors are Black women in particular.
Many of the speakers went into debt to pursue careers in public service fields like education, pastoral counseling, and social work.
"We are caring human beings that wanted to help out the world," said Debt Collective member Mary Donahue of Maryland. "We just need a little help."
The Debt Collective insists that "death should not be the only relief plan for their old, unpayable student loans."
"Decades of broken student relief programs, corrupt loan services, and government neglect have meant that millions of older Americans dragged decadesold student debts into their retirement," said Gail Gardner, who is 77 years old and owes $549,497.20. "Absent swift, bold policy change, and clear political leadership, this crisis will only deepen. The debtors will get older. The debts will get bigger."
That is why she said she had joined with other older debtors to "demand the White House and the Department of Education finally take responsibility for clearing the student debts burdening myself and millions of older Americans."
Both Gardner and Clifford pointed out that discharging debts based on age was something that the Biden-Harris administration could do without running afoul of right-wing attempts to block President Joe Biden's other attempts at student debt relief.
"We are urging the Biden Harris administration to work as fast and as hard as Republicans are working to keep us in debt to free borrowers from these loans, and they can do it today," Clifford said.
Gardner concluded: "For decades, millions of older debtors have crouched in shame, imagining ourselves as failures when in reality the system has failed us. But we will no longer be duped into suffering alone. This week for the first time in history, older student debtors have gone to Washington to demand our student loan debts get canceled in our lifetime, not at our funerals. We can't afford to wait."
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One Year After Supreme Court Ripped Away Student Debt Relief, Borrowers Still Waiting for Promised Relief
The clock is ticking. Young borrowers must not lose out on urgently-needed debt relief should November bring a new administration.
Jun 30, 2024
Exactly one year ago, President Joe Biden stood before the American people after the politicized U.S. Supreme Court ripped away critical student debt relief from 40 million borrowers. The President reaffirmed his commitment to cancel student debt and pledged to use different authority under the Higher Education Act. Since then, President Biden has worked arduously to deliver debt relief to nearly 5 million student loan borrowers by making critical fixes to loan relief programs. But now, in nearly identically timed releases, federal judges in Kansas and Missouri issued a pair of injunctions blocking portions of the new Saving on a Valuable Education repayment plan (the SAVE plan)—making President Biden’s promise of relief more critical than ever.
Biden’s fixes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness and the Income-Driven Repayment Account Adjustment gave millions of borrowers the relief they should have received all along. And this cancellation has been life-changing for the borrowers who have been trapped in the broken student loan system for decades. But one fix that still remains elusive is the crushing burden that student loan debt is putting on our nation's youngest borrowers.
If this rule is pushed to the next Administration, young borrowers may be cut out of relief entirely.
Young people have not had decades to experience runaway interest or pay into the wrong payment plan, but they are being devastated by the student loan crisis nonetheless. For borrowers who are just starting out in their careers, their student debt is inhibiting their ability to start a family, buy a home, save for retirement, or start a business. Student debt is exacerbating racial and economic inequities and widening the racial wealth gap, worsening economic insecurity for people with disabilities, and increasing health disparities and the mental health crisis. And after this week’s rulings, these young borrowers may not even have the benefit of affordable payments and the guarantee of a light at the end of the tunnel.
A recent poll found that at least two-thirds of the youngest voters consider cancelling student loan debt to be an important issue in the upcoming election. It is no wonder why. In fact, younger voters are also far more likely to connect student debt relief with a stronger U.S. economy no matter their political affiliation—even Gen Z and Millennial Republican voters believe action to cancel student debt will help the economy by a 2:1 margin.
And yet, these are the last borrowers to see relief. Earlier this year, a U.S. Department of Education committee held a series of meetings to create a hardship rule for student debt relief. The committee came to consensus on a proposal to provide the Secretary with broad authority and flexibility to cancel debt for borrowers most likely to face difficulties repaying their student loans. It would allow the Secretary to consider a wide-ranging list of factors when considering whether a borrower is experiencing hardship. If enacted, this rule has the potential to unlock economic mobility for millions of young borrowers, workers, and families.
Despite the fact that the committee reached consensus in February, the Administration has yet to publish the proposed rule on hardship. It is no secret that time is running out for the Administration to finish its regulatory agenda. If this rule is pushed to the next Administration, young borrowers may be cut out of relief entirely.
It has been a year since the Supreme Court callously ripped vital relief from tens of millions. Providing relief to young borrowers must be a priority—the Administration cannot allow young student loan borrowers to be a victim of the clock.
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