President Biden has long believed in ensuring that college is a pathway to the middle class rather than a financial burden for families. To fulfill this vision, his Administration has taken unprecedented actions to reform the student loan system, make college more affordable, and expand access to higher education for all Americans.
In another major step towards these goals, President Biden is proud to announce that an additional 125,000 Americans have been approved for $9 billion in debt relief. This achievement is a result of the Administration’s efforts to improve income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, as well as the cancellation of debt for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities. With this announcement, the total amount of debt cancellation approved by the Biden-Harris Administration now reaches $127 billion, benefiting nearly 3.6 million individuals.
The Biden-Harris Administration has approved the following:
- An additional $5.2 billion in debt relief for 53,000 borrowers through Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs.
- Nearly $2.8 billion in new debt relief for almost 51,000 borrowers who were not provided the intended relief despite making payments for 20 years or more under income-driven repayment.
- $1.2 billion for approximately 22,000 borrowers with total or permanent disabilities identified through a data match with the Social Security Administration.
The Department of Education is also providing state-by-state information on debt relief approved under the Biden-Harris Administration through IDR and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. You can find the breakdown for each state here.
This announcement builds upon the Administration’s ongoing efforts to make college more affordable and remove barriers to educational opportunities for students and families. The Biden-Harris Administration recently introduced the most affordable student loan repayment plan called SAVE, which allows many borrowers to have monthly payments as low as $0 while preventing interest from accruing on unpaid balances. Additionally, the Administration secured the largest increase in Pell Grants in ten years and implemented new rules to safeguard borrowers from career programs that lead to unmanageable debts or insufficient earnings. Following the Supreme Court decision on the original student debt relief plan, President Biden revealed that his Administration would explore an alternative path to debt relief through negotiated rulemaking under the Higher Education Act.
Last week, the Administration took an important stride forward in this process by announcing the members of the negotiating committee and providing an issue paper to guide the first negotiation session. The paper outlines the Administration’s key objectives, including assisting borrowers with higher than initial loan balances, reaching eligible borrowers who have not applied for relief under existing plans, and addressing financial hardships that are not adequately addressed by the current loan system.
Thus far, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved $127 billion in debt cancellation for nearly 3.6 million borrowers, which includes:
- Approximately $42 billion for almost 855,000 borrowers eligible for forgiveness through income-driven repayment, thanks to corrections made to historical data inaccuracies regarding qualifying payments.
- Almost $51 billion for 715,000 public servants through Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs.
- $11.7 billion for almost 513,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities.
- $22.5 billion for over 1.3 million borrowers who were victims of school fraud, faced sudden closures of their institutions, or are covered by related court settlements.
###
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
