Advocates are raising concerns over a proposed bill in Congress that would ban mass student loan forgiveness for borrowers who attended certain professional training programs. The bill, buried in bipartisan legislation to reauthorize appropriations for the Federal Aviation Administration, specifically targets undergraduate federal student loans for borrowers in flight education and training programs. This provision appears to be a safeguard to shield flight schools from federal debt relief regulations that authorize group discharges for borrowers impacted by school misconduct.
The FAA reauthorization bill, sponsored by both Democratic and Republican senators, includes language that prohibits the cancellation or forgiveness of outstanding balances on federal student loans for eligible students in flight education programs. This ban on mass student debt relief appears to be a response to recent regulations enacted by the Biden administration that authorize group discharges for borrowers impacted by school-related events. Under programs such as Borrower Defense to Repayment, borrowers can receive student loan forgiveness if their school closed or engaged in misconduct.
While the proposed ban on mass student loan forgiveness in the FAA reauthorization bill is very specific, applying only to undergraduate federal Stafford loans for flight education programs, advocates are sounding the alarm over the potential precedent it could set. Group discharges are an important tool for the Education Department to provide relief to similarly-situated borrowers, as individual applications for debt relief can be time-consuming. Advocacy groups warn that passage of this ban could pave the way for broader prohibitions on student loan forgiveness in the future, impacting various professions beyond pilots.
The Education Department has been authorized by the Biden administration to provide group discharges for borrowers of collapsed for-profit school chains such as Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institutes. However, a federal court has halted the Borrower Defense regulations following a legal challenge from several schools. Advocates argue that restricting group student loan forgiveness could lead to delays and barriers for borrowers seeking relief and create a dangerous precedent that could affect other professions in the future.
Advocates, including the Debt Collective, a debtor’s union advocating for student loan borrowers, have raised concerns that the proposed ban on mass student loan forgiveness for flight education programs could serve as a test run for broader restrictions on debt relief in other professions. They argue that if Congress can halt debt relief for pilots, they could potentially do the same for nurses, teachers, and other professions in the future. The potential implications of this legislation extend beyond just the aviation industry and could impact how student loan forgiveness is handled across various fields and programs.
