(WIB) – Today, the greatest threat to Black educational futures is not a lack of talent or ambition — it’s the United States Supreme Court.
In 2023, conservative justices put an end to affirmative action in higher education, dealing a blow to Black enrollment. Just days later, it blocked the Biden administration from administering broad-based student debt relief — a move which would have narrowed the racial wealth gap and freed millions of Black borrowers from crushing debt. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court also cleared the path for the Trump administration to dismantle the Department of Education, striking at the heart of federal civil rights enforcement.
Now the courts are poised to deal another blow.
The SAVE Plan Is Under Threat
If the courts approve a settlement between the Trump administration and the State of Missouri to dismantle the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, Black folks and all student debtors will be thrust into even more dire straits.
SAVE, introduced by the Biden administration several years ago, was the most affordable plan for student debtors ever widely available. It lowered millions of borrowers’ monthly payments to zero, or close to it. For many, it cut the timeline for eventual student debt relief in half, from 20 years to 10. For nearly 75% of debtors, SAVE also ended interest payments for borrowers who kept up with their monthly principal balance.
The SAVE plan — even without broad-scale debt cancellation — ranked as one of the most progressive actions on student debt ever taken by a presidential administration.
Why Ending SAVE Is a Mistake
The SAVE plan wasn’t perfect. For example, its payment formula failed to account for everyday expenses, such as child care. Further, the reality of all student debt repayment plans is that they enable student debt to be a lifetime debt sentence for Black borrowers, who have rightly described these plans as a “trap” and a “scam.” Corrupt student loan servicers and years of federal incompetence administering a $2 trillion portfolio also mean millions of debtors who are legally entitled to relief simply haven’t received it.
Still, the elimination of the SAVE plan will intensify an already bad situation. Borrowers would see their payments jump by hundreds of dollars as they are forced into costlier repayment options devised by the Trump administration.
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Black borrowers, especially Black women who bear the brunt of the student debt crisis, will be disproportionately hurt. Families will be forced to choose between making student debt payments or buying groceries, paying rent, getting dental care, or putting gas in the tank. These are impossible choices that don’t just hurt working families; they also drag down our economy and undermine the few social safety nets our country has.
Courts Could Block Student Loan Cancellation for a Decade
It gets worse: the settlement proposal includes a provision that would, in effect, make student debt cancellation on a broad scale practically impossible to administer for the next 10 years. While 85% of Black student debtors support cancellation, this proposal to end SAVE could also sneakily put a decade-long moratorium on the very executive action Black borrowers have been demanding.
Student Debt Is a Racial Justice Issue
The deck is stacked against student debtors. The ultra-wealthy who can afford to pay the cost of college upfront avoid crushing student loan interest. Meanwhile, everyone else pays far more than they borrowed — or they never get out of debt at all. This inequity is especially true for Black borrowers who must borrow more to attend college, take a longer time to pay off student debt, are more likely to default, and are paid less in the workplace to begin with.
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Without intervention, many loans will fall into default — triggering wage garnishment, tax refund seizures, and other punitive financial measures that push folks into poverty.
What Borrowers Can Do Right Now
All hope is not lost. Student loan borrowers — as well as future borrowers and their co-signers — must take concrete steps to protect themselves. For starters, borrowers should pursue options the Department of Education often doesn’t tell people about:
- Seek hardship exemptions to pause and reduce forced collections if they’re facing default.
- Seek out lesser-known relief programs, such as Temporary and Permanent Disability Discharge, Borrower Defense to Repayment, and Closed School Discharge, which offer opportunities for those in need.
- Keep meticulous records. Every payment, communication with a student loan servicer, and notification from the Department of Education could be evidence in future complaints or disputes, especially given how frequently student loan servicers make errors.
Student Debtors Are a Political Constituency
Student debtors must be understood — and must act — as a political constituency. Too often, mainstream media and conventional establishment political spaces represent student debtors as white, wealthy, high-earning graduates of Ivy League institutions. That deeply flawed narrative undermines the reality of the people most harmed.
Student debtors are disproportionally older, Black and Brown, women, working-class, and folks who have a mix of college experience — from attending an HBCU to being defrauded by a predatory institution to being unable to finish their degree at all.
Collective Action Can Shift Power
Debt Collective, the nation’s first union of debtors through which I organize, has been leading the charge on student debt relief since Occupy Wall Street. Because our creditor is the federal government, it doesn’t need our monthly payments to function as a bank or hospital might. But raising our voices as a political constituency worth protecting can still have strong sway in established political spaces. Speaking up in town halls and finding creative, safe ways to declare oneself on “strike” could put political pressure on any administration to solve the student debt crisis rather than continuing to kick the can down the road.
The Fight for Black Educational Futures Continues
The destruction of Black educational spaces — from attacks on HBCUs to undermining DEI to halting student debt relief — is not new. In our era of financial capitalism, in which the wealthy refuse to pay their fair share and the cost of public goods like college continues to rise, it’s time for debtors — as an economic and political constituency — to rise up and demand better.
Braxton Brewington is a community organizer and spokesperson for the Debt Collective and a doctoral student in sociology at the University of North Carolina.