The Education Department’s handling of requests for bankruptcy discharges from federal student loan borrowers is raising new questions about the Biden administration’s commitment to overhaul its restrictive policy, the Washington Post reported. It’s been nearly four months since Richard Cordray, chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid, told Congress the agency was working with the Justice Department to revise its approach — a pledge that consumer advocates believed would usher in a new era. Many assumed the Education Department would soften its stance in pending cases, but the agency has continued to contest claims. A pair of recent appeals filed by the department resulted in a public backlash. In one case, the department tried to fight a court-approved discharge of $100,000 in federal student loans held by Ryan Wolfson, a 35-year-old in Delaware who had never made payments on the debt. The judge concluded that Wolfson, who suffers from epilepsy, could not afford his basic needs without the support of his father and there was no evidence to suggest his plight would improve. The other case involved Monique Wheat, a 32-year-old single mother of three in Alabama whom the court granted cancellation of $111,000 in federal students loans. Wheat earns less than $22,000 a year and, as the primary caregiver for her ill daughter and mother, could only work weekends. The Trump administration fought her request to discharge the debt, arguing that her teenage son should get a job to contribute to the household. The courts ruled in Wheat’s favor in January, yet the Biden administration appealed the decision.
