In Atlanta, Education Secretary Cardona hints at more student loan debt relief

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – After a panel discussion in Decatur on Monday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona hinted at the possibility of more student loan debt relief coming for American borrowers.

Sec. Cardona participated in an event at Agnes Scott College a few days after the Biden administration announced a plan to forgive the debts of around 800,000 borrowers totaling around $39 billion in relief. As part of that plan, many borrowers who have already been repaying their school loans for 20 to 25 years will see their debt disappear entirely.

“The goal is to be able to pay what you can afford,” said Cardona. “Right now people are falling into default because the college loan payments are too high for the salaries.”

Cardona didn’t go into detail about any of the administration’s future plans for debt forgiveness but said the U.S. Supreme Court “got it wrong” when they struck down Biden’s original plan. That plan would have forgiven around 40 million borrowers, far more than the 800,000 forgiven last week.

“Clearly, we’re not done fighting for the borrowers,” he said. “We’re not done fighting for accessible higher education and that’s something we’re going to be committed to.”

The secretary’s visit wasn’t the only high-profile education event in the area Monday. The United Negro College Fund held their annual summit in downtown Atlanta. After a separate Supreme Court ruling last month struck down affirmative action as a factor in college admissions, some Historically Black Colleges and Universities are expecting an influx in applications.

“Black students and minority students want to be in environments where they feel like they belong and where people want them to be there,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the UNCF. “That sense of predominantly white institutions being somewhat less embracing and welcoming has made a new generation of Black college students look to historically Black colleges and universities.”

But with an influx of students must come an influx in funding, said Lomax. He meets quarterly with Sec. Cardona and said he’s raised the issue of keeping up with increased enrollments at HBCU institutions and others that support marginalized students.

“Those institutions are seeing an upsurge in applications, but they don’t have the facilities or the resources to give great educations to those otherwise disenfranchised students – let’s invest more there,” said Lomax. “They’re going to need dormitory space, they’re going to need more classroom space, they’re going to need smart classroom space.”

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