Carey to Negotiated Rulemaking: Student Loan Forgiveness Hurts Veterans, Military Members

Rule changes proposed by the Biden Administration to expand the Department of Education’s authority to discharge student loan debt presents a “dangerous moral hazard” and would exacerbate the military’s recruiting and retention crisis, NDC executive director Bob Carey told negotiators last month.

The Department of Education recently initiated a series of negotiated rulemaking hearings to increase its ability to forgive student debt. Such expansive unilateral authority would diminish the value of military earned education benefits, thereby making it harder for the military to attract and retain qualified personnel.

“From a military and veterans’ perspective, this looks like a pretty bad deal,” Carey said. “Veterans and military personnel, they are rational. They know whether something is a good deal or not. The problem is, with this regulation [their] military service is no longer a good deal.”

The committee’s proposed regulation is another example of government’s “war against veterans and military personnel to able to use their earned educational benefits.”

“This is much more about how do we make college free than about how do we look at deferment or discharge of loans,” Carey added. “If Congress wants to make higher education free, they need to pass a law… I don’t see where Congress has given the Department of Education… this expansive authority to essentially forgive each and every loan.”