On August 3, 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to examine student loan bankruptcy reform. Committee members and witnesses highlighted the unfair treatment of student loan debt under the bankruptcy code and the rigid standard borrowers must meet to discharge student loans.

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and John Cornyn introduced TheFresh Start Through Bankruptcy Act to address the growing bipartisan consensus that struggling borrowers need student loan bankruptcy reform.

In what appears to be more good news for those with student loan debt, the Tenth Circuit recently joined the Fifth Circuit by holding that certain private student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy.

In McDaniel v. Navient Solutions, LLC, No. 18-1445 (10th Cir. Aug. 31, 2020), the Tenth Circuit held that an educational loan does not constitute “an obligation to repay funds received as an educational benefit” under Section 523(a)(8)(A)(ii) of the Bankruptcy Code.

Section 523(a)(8) of the Code provides, in pertinent part:

Following Wednesday night’s late-night Senate passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES Act), the bill was sent to the House of Representatives. The House will convene Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. to begin consideration of the CARES Act (H.R. 748).

The CARES Act expands earlier versions of two pieces of legislation to help individuals and businesses harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On August 1, 2019, the U.S. Senate passed the “Family Farmer Relief Act of 2019” (H.R. 2336), bipartisan legislation which cleared the U.S. House of Representatives in June. The President is expected to sign the Act into law, and it would go into effect on the date it is signed. The Family Farmer Relief Act of 2019 significantly increases the “debt limit” for agricultural producers seeking to reorganize under Chapter 12 of the U.S.