Americans who hold significant student loan debt are seeing their way to solvency. Thanks to a Federal Education Department and Department of Justice collaborative initiative launched in November 2022, borrowers can more easily discharge their student loans through bankruptcy. I’ve advocated for this simple fix for years, and I’m glad to see it in action, finally.

Filing for bankruptcy for student loan debt was near impossible prior to this action. Student loan borrowers had to show the challenging legal standard of “undue hardship,” a measure not specifically defined by federal statute, in order to have their debt discharged. As part of the process, borrowers had to initiate an adversary proceeding, suing their far-more resourced lender in bankruptcy court. As a result, the majority of claims failed, and more didn’t even get started because of the mountainous hurdles that needed to be overcome.