WASHINGTON, Dec 2, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to rule on the legality of President Joe Biden's landmark effort to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in US student debt.

The court will hear the case in February or March, according to a short statement it posted online.

In the meantime, it declined to lift a lower court ruling that has put the policy on hold for now.

The Democratic president, who has posed the measure as a boost for the middle class, announced in August that the federal government would forgive a huge portion of the often-crushing student debt held by Americans, erasing up to $20,000 per person.

In total, some 45 million borrowers nationwide owe a collective $1.6 trillion, according to the White House.

The plan, which would cost an estimated $400 million, was immediately challenged in court by several conservative states, which called the move an abuse of power ahead of the midterm elections.

Last month, a federal appeals court blocked the measure, and current and former college and university students who had already begun to apply for the relief were told their claims were on hold pending legal action.

The White House then asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, in hopes it would overturn the previous decision.

At the same time, the administration once again extended until June a moratorium on student debt payments, which was originally implemented at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.