[Justice.gov] The Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-76, 117 Stat. 904, grants the Secretary of Education authority to reduce or eliminate the obligation to repay the principal balance of federal student loan debt, including on a class-wide basis in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, provided all other require- ments of the statute are satisfied.
August 23, 2022
MEMORANDUM OPINION FOR THE GENERAL COUNSEL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
The Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-76, 117 Stat. 904 (2003) (codified at 20 U.S.C. §§ 1098aa–1098ee) (“HEROES Act of 2003,” or “HEROES Act”), vests the Secretary of Education (“Secretary”) with expansive authority to alleviate the hardship that federal student loan recipients may suffer as a result of national emergencies. The Act provides that the Secretary may “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to” federal student loan programs if the Secretary “deems” such actions “necessary to ensure that” certain statutory objectives are achieved. 20 U.S.C. § 1098bb(a)(1)–(2). One of those objectives is to ensure that “recipients of student financial assistance . . . are not placed in a worse position financially in relation to that financial assistance because of” a national emergency. Id. § 1098bb(a)(2)(A). In 2020, the Secretary in- voked this authority in response to the COVID -19 pandemic to suspend the repayment obligation and to waive interest payments on student loans for every borrower in the United States with a loan held by the federal government. See Federal Student Aid Programs, 85 Fed. Reg. 79,856, 79,862 (Dec. 11, 2020). Prior Secretaries have exercised the same authori- ty to categorically waive statutory and regulatory obligations for borrow- ers residing or working in a disaster area in connection with a national emergency and for borrowers who suffered economic hardship as a result of a national emergency. See, e.g., Federal Student Aid Programs, 77 Fed. Reg. 59,311, 59,314 (Sept. 27, 2012); Federal Student Aid Programs, 68 Fed. Reg. 69,312, 69,313–14 (Dec. 12, 2003).
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