The Education Department will resume collecting interest on federal student loans next month, canceling the last part of a Biden administration debt forgiveness scheme that courts have ruled illegal.
The decision will restart interest charges for nearly 7.7 million former college students who enjoyed a yearlong pause under the Biden-era plan to impose 0% interest rates, which a federal court injunction blocked last year.
An appeals court upheld that ruling in February, capping two years of legal defeats for former President Joseph R. Biden’s attempt to forgive $430 billion of federal student loan debt. Education Department officials said another court ruling in April let them restore the interest payments promptly.
“For years, the Biden administration used so-called loan forgiveness promises to win votes, but federal courts repeatedly ruled that those actions were unlawful. Congress designed these programs to ensure that borrowers repay their loans, yet the Biden administration tried to