Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley will introduce legislation Wednesday that puts colleges and universities on the hook for student debt.
The bill was first obtained by the Daily Caller and is titled the Make the Universities Pay Act. The Legislation would require institutions of higher education participating in the Federal Direct Student Loan Program to pay 50% of any student loan balance that is in default.
The Make the Universities Pay Act would also allow student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy and allow undergraduate student loan debt to be discharged five years after the first payment is due, while graduate student loan can be discharged 15 years after the first payment is due. In addition, the bill requires each institution of higher education participating in federal financial aid programs to publish post-graduate outcomes, including mean and median earnings of graduates and student loan default rates, disaggregated by each degree or program of study.
The Biden administration is taking executive action to forgive $10,000 per borrower. The move would clear $321 billion of federal student loans and clear the student debt for almost 12 million people, according to CNBC.