Currently, there are several high profile cases—Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, which the Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in February, Sweet v Cardona, affirmative action lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Devry’s lawsuit against the Education Department, and the uncertainties of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). 

In August President Biden unveiled plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for qualifying borrowers—last week, the U.S. Department of Education and Justice Department argued it was acting within its “executive authority,” and adhering to the HEROES  Act, after six states filed lawsuits and federal courts blocked the relief. 

The U.S. Department of Education efforts to cancel student loans from defrauded borrowers continued with Sweet v Cardona, and in November, a federal judge approved a $6 billion settlement—student loans for 200,000 borrowers. 

Affirmative action lawsuits were brought against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions. The lawsuits vary from one another but the group is “arguing they unfairly disadvantage certain students while favoring others,” Higher ED Dive reports. 

Higher ED Dives reports that Devry University sued the Education Department “to try to stop the agency from recouping more than $23 million to cover cost of debt discharges for students who filed borrower defense claims against the institution.” 

However, DACA is affecting roughly 93,000 people after “a federal appeals court agree with a district court in Texas that DACA’s creation in 2012 was illegal,” Higher ED Dive reports.