President Joe Biden was defiant as he addressed the nation following the Supreme Court's decision to strike down his student loan forgiveness plan.
"I think the court misinterpreted the constitution," Biden said.
The justices voted 6-3 in favor of Republican-led states that sued the federal government over the program. They ruled that Biden did not have the authority to create his program under the 2003 Heroes Act.
In light of the decision, Biden said he will take a different approach to canceling student loan debt.
"Today's decision has closed one path, but now we start another," Biden said.
Your student loan payment probably won't be as large as it was in 2020
Although you will soon have to resume paying your federal student loans, your payments might be much smaller than they were prior to the pandemic.
The new approach will be grounded in the Higher Education Act, which Biden says will allow the Department of Education to compromise with lenders and release loans under certain circumstances.
Unlike his previous plan, which saw millions of people sign up, Biden said this path will be slower.
Asked whether he gave Americans false hope, Biden said, "I didn't give anyone false hope. The Republicans snatched away the hope they were given."
He expressed empathy for student loan borrowers who will have to resume payments in October. However, he noted that his administration is introducing what he called a "12-month on-ramp" to repayment. The president said it removes the threat of default or harming a person's credit score if they miss a payment.
Get ready: Student loan interest, payments set to resume
Payments won't come out automatically, and there are options to help lower monthly payments when they resume later this year.
