The Biden administration announced it would cancel $5 billion in debt for 74,000 student loan borrowers who spent decades working in public service jobs.
President Joe Biden said in a release on Friday that 44,000 of the approved borrowers had worked in the public sector for 10 years as teachers, nurses, and firefighters. Almost 30,000 borrowers had worked toward student loan repayment for at least 20 years but “never got the relief they earned through income-driven repayment,” he said.
“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,” the president said.
Student loan cancellations are a major focal point for Biden’s presidential agenda and reelection campaign, which suffered a blow after the Supreme Court struck down his prized student loan debt relief plan last year to cancel $400 billion in student debt all at once. The high court ruled the plan was unlawful as it did not get explicit approval from Congress. Since then, the White House has rolled out smaller relief plans.
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Last week, the administration said it was expanding and accelerating its income-driven student loan forgiveness plan. Borrowers who originally took out loans of $12,000 or less and have made at least 10 years of payments will be eligible for debt cancellation as early as February under the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan. The plan now allows borrowers to receive the benefit after one year of additional payments per $1,000 above $12,000 borrowed, as well.
As of Friday, the total number of borrowers with debt canceled under the Biden administration is 3.7 million, according to the White House.
