The Biden administration announced on Friday the forgiveness of nearly $5 billion in student loan debt for approximately 73,600 borrowers. The White House specified that over half of these borrowers, around 44,000 individuals, are teachers, nurses, firefighters, and others who have participated in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for a decade. The remaining 30,000 borrowers have been enrolled in an income-driven repayment program for 20 years.
With this announcement, President Biden has now provided debt relief to a total of 3.7 million borrowers under his administration. In a statement, Biden highlighted the improvements made to the student loan programs, emphasizing their commitment to ensuring borrowers receive entitled relief.
“My Administration is able to deliver relief to these borrowers — and millions more — because of fixes we made to broken student loan programs that were preventing borrowers from getting relief they were entitled to under the law,” stated President Biden.
The announcement underscored various achievements in the administration’s approach to student loans, including increasing federal Pell Grants, modifying the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and introducing the SAVE income-driven repayment option. Despite the Supreme Court’s rejection of the universal student debt relief proposal, President Biden revealed ongoing efforts to formulate a new plan for widespread loan forgiveness, acknowledging that it might not encompass as many borrowers as the previous proposal.
“From Day One of my Administration, I vowed to improve the student loan system so that a higher education provides Americans with opportunity and prosperity — not unmanageable burdens of student loan debt. I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams,” affirmed President Biden.
