Student Loan Forgiveness Finds Unlikely Republican Champion

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled a new policy plan that includes making universities responsible for the loans their students accrue and easing the path for student debt to be discharged through bankruptcy.

The 10-point economic plan is the latest policy proposal from DeSantis, who continues to trail Donald Trump in the race for the 2024 presidential nomination.

In a "Declaration of Economic Independence," DeSantis also vowed to rein in federal spending, curb trade with China and limit immigration along the southern border.

On education, the plan said DeSantis would stop incentivizing "useless degrees and courses with blanket government loans."

"To that end, he will make universities, not taxpayers, responsible for the loans their students accrue," the plan states.

"It's wrong to say that a truck driver should have to pay off the debt of somebody who got a degree in gender studies," DeSantis said at a campaign event in New Hampshire.

"At the same time, I have sympathy for some of these students because I think they were sold a bill of goods. I think these universities knew that they could take all this federal loan money."

DeSantis added: "I think the universities should be responsible for the student debt. You produce somebody that can be successful, they pay off the loans, great. If you don't, then you're gonna be on the hook. That will cause a change in the type of course programs that a lot of these universities are offering."

DeSantis will also seek to allow student loans to be discharged through bankruptcy, "like any other loan," his economic plan states.

Madeline Zavodny, a professor of economics at the University of North Florida, told Newsweek that it's "a good idea to make loans dischargeable in bankruptcy under some circumstances, and it's also important to ensure that colleges and universities are not encouraging students to take out too much in loans."

She said: "Students need to be aware of what the earning potential of various degrees is and whether it is realistic for them to pay off the loans required for the degrees they might be considering. Students often don't understand how much they're going to have to repay."

According to the Department of Education, it's currently possible to get student loans discharged through bankruptcy, but the process is difficult.

Borrowers must file a separate action—known as an "adversary proceeding"—and demonstrate to a bankruptcy court that repayment would impose undue hardship on the borrower and their dependents.

Demonstrating "undue hardship" in a bankruptcy court is "damn near impossible without kind of killing yourself in the process," Jacob Channel, a senior economist for online loan marketplace LendingTree and a student loan expert, previously told Newsweek.

President Joe Biden's $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loans for millions of Americans was struck down by the Supreme Court's conservative majority in June, leaving borrowers on the hook for repayments that are set to resume in the fall.

Biden has since pledged to push ahead with a new debt relief plan, and blamed Republican "hypocrisy" for killing his initial effort. Meanwhile, applications are now open for the Biden administration's new income-driven repayment plan where more people will be eligible for $0 payments.

DeSantis' speech on Monday came as he works to reset his campaign, which has shed more than one-third of its staff in recent weeks after spending heavily in the first several weeks he was in the race.

It also comes as he faces criticism for Florida's new teaching standards that require middle school students to be taught that slaves "developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said DeSantis should be focusing on the economic problems he has created in Florida, including the the rising costs of housing, property insurance rates and health care.

"It remains a mystery why DeSantis would try to reboot his dumpster fire of a campaign by promising to bring his failures as governor nationwide, but by all means, we welcome Republicans to continue reminding the American people how catastrophic the MAGA agenda is for the economy," Moussa said in a statement.

Newsweek has contacted the DeSantis campaign for comment via email.