WASHINGTON – At a campaign rally in April, Mr. President Joe Biden told a crowd in Wisconsin about his latest life-changing student loan cancellation plan, promising financial relief for more than 30 million Americans.

But Kamala Harris has avoided the issue at his political events since replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee for president. The vice president’s platform only mentions it twice and without a specific plan. As he courts moderate voters, Harris has focused on policies aimed at Americans without college degrees.

“For far too long, our nation has encouraged only one path to success: a four-year college degree,” Harris said in September in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. “Our nation must recognize the value of other paths.”

In just a few years, student loan cancellation has gone from a pillar of the Democratic Party to a political liability. Once seen as a sure-fire way to energize young voters, the issue has now become a jab at Republicans who say it benefits elites at the expense of those who have paid off their loans or didn’t attend college.

The issue came up only once in September’s presidential debate, when Republican Donald Trump he blasted Harris and Biden for failing to deliver on their promise of widespread repeal. The former president called it a “total disaster” that “made a mockery of young people”.

“They didn’t even come close to getting student loans,” Trump said.

Biden’s efforts to forgive student loans have faced relentless roadblocks

Biden, who once questioned the legality of mass student loan forgiveness, campaigned on the issue after progressives like the senator. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., made it a mainstream idea. But as president, Biden has faced relentless challenges from Republican opponents. For approximately 42 million people with federal student loans, hope for forgiveness has turned to resignation and disillusionment.

Biden’s first plan to cancel up to $20,000 for millions of people was blocked by the Supreme Court last year. A second, narrower plan was blocked by a federal judge after Republican-led states sued. A separate policy aimed at reducing loan payments for troubled borrowers was halted by a judge, also after Republican-controlled states challenged it.

On Friday, the Biden administration continued another attempt at student loan cancellationit focused on Americans facing heavy financial burdens beyond their student loans. He faces an uncertain future, arriving less than two weeks before Elections of November 5.

Legal uncertainty likely contributed to Harris de-emphasizing the cancellation, said Michelle Dimino, education program director at the centrist think tank Third Way. It’s also an issue her base is familiar with, she added.

“There’s not much new that he can give before he knows what’s going to happen in the courts,” Dimino said. When Biden first launched a broad repeal, it was something that had not been attempted. “It’s a totally different landscape now than it was in 2020, when it was a clean table.”

Harris’ silence also signals political risks, especially in a close election. Any new promise to cancel the loan would energize Republicans who have made it a rallying cry. For voters who could benefit from the repeal, it’s a promise they’ve heard before.

“The Harris campaign realized that this is not necessarily a winning political issue,” said Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The student loan agenda is in tatters and it didn’t really help them win any votes,” Cooper said.

Even moderate Americans seem skeptical about student loan forgiveness. A survey from June from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 3 in 10 U.S. adults said they approved of Biden’s work on student debt, and it wasn’t much better among those repaying loans. Slightly more than half of Democrats said they support the president’s job performance, while 18 percent of independents said the same.

Both Harris and Trump promote college alternatives

The Harris campaign declined to provide details or answer questions about her cancellation plan.

Her platform only mentions student loans after a full page of policies aimed at workers without degrees. At a September rally in Pennsylvania, Harris drew applause when he said he would get rid of unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs. She did not mention student loans in her 20-minute speech.

“Requiring a certain degree doesn’t necessarily speak to one’s abilities,” Harris told the audience at Wilkes University, a private college in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Harris’ comments reflect a traditionally Republican talking point that has been increasingly embraced by Democrats as more Americans question the value of a college degree.

“Student loan forgiveness is … perhaps alienating some of the support Harris was hoping to garner from the non-college-educated,” said Andrew Gillen, a research fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. “These kinds of polarizing topics poison the well for other things that have bipartisan support. Once issues like student loan forgiveness are ironed out, I think there will be a lot more of that bipartisan deal.”

It’s one of the few areas of common ground between Harris and Trump.

In his platform, the former Republican president said he would “support the creation of additional, drastically more affordable alternatives to a traditional four-year degree.” It does not mention loans. Trump opposed the cancellation, saying it was illegal.

“President Trump will implement real solutions to make education, housing and the cost of living affordable again for young people so they can live the American dream,” Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for Trump’s presidential campaign, told the AP. 2024.

Student loan advocates point to Trump’s vague promises, failure to fix public service loan forgiveness and judge appointments that have blocked blanket student debt relief. “Trump is proud of his work to hurt working families,” said Melissa Byrne, a political organizer who pushed for the repeal.

The fate of further student loan cancellation is unclear

As California attorney general, Harris led efforts to penalize for-profit colleges for defrauding borrowers. As a 2019 presidential candidate, Harris has proposed a narrower path to loan forgiveness than those pushed by Sanders and the senator. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Harris’ plan would have given $20,000 in aid to any federal Pell Grant recipient who started a business in a disadvantaged community and kept it running for three years.

After the Biden administration announced this month that it had canceled more than 1 million loans Public service workers, Harris issued a statement applauding the work, again pledging broadly to continue to make “higher education more accessible.”

Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at Protect Borrowers Action, said Harris’ track record in reducing student debt suggests he will follow through on commitments made under Biden.

“This is an issue that he worked on long before he came to Washington, DC,” said Canchola Bañez, pointing to the unprecedented amount of student loan debt forgiven under the Biden administration. “I’ve seen the vice president come out very strongly applauding the relief that has come so far.”

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