The cancellations have come through existing federal student loan forgiveness programs, which are limited to specific categories of borrowers, such as public-sector workers, people defrauded by for-profit colleges, and borrowers who have paid for at least 20 years. These programs are separate from the rejected forgiveness plan, which would have canceled about $430 billion of the $1.6 trillion of outstanding federal student loan debt all at one time.
The plaintiffs recently filed an appeal after the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in Michigan, who ruled that they did not have standing to bring the complaint. Lawyers for the Biden administration have not yet been required to respond to the complaint and specify the legal authority relied on to cancel billions of dollars of student loan debt by adjusting past payments.