Biden to Forgive $7.7 Billion in Student Loans for Over 160K Americans

The United States President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday another round of student loan forgiveness for 160,500 more borrowers. The administration has approved $7.7 billion in student debt relief this time.

According to the White House, this latest round of student debt forgiveness brings the total amount of canceled student debt to $167 billion for 4.75 million people. In other words, about one in ten student loan borrowers have been approved for debt relief under Biden, Erudera.com reports.

“Today’s announcement brings the total loan forgiveness approved by the Biden-Harris Administration to $167 billion for 4.75 million Americans. Thanks to this Administration’s efforts more than one out of every 10 federal student loan borrowers has now been approved for some debt relief,” the US Department of Education said in a statement on May 21.

The 160,500 people who qualify for loan forgiveness are those enrolled in the Biden Administration’s SAVE Plan, including public service workers like nurses, teachers, law enforcement officials, or student loan borrowers who were approved for relief because of Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) fixes.

“One out of every 10 federal student loan borrowers approved for debt relief means one out of every 10 borrowers now has financial breathing room and a burden lifted,” US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.

The latest forgiveness will be divided into three categories:

• $5.2 billion for 66,900 borrowers through fixes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
• $613 million for 54,300 borrowers through the SAVE Plan.
• $1.9 billion for 39,200 borrowers through administrative adjustments to IDR payment counts.

According to the administration, people who qualify for this relief will receive emails stating that their applications for loan forgiveness have been approved. The forgiveness will then proceed in the following weeks.

Under the PSLF and SAVE plan, a total of 1.6 million borrowers who were defrauded by their schools, saw their institutions close, or are covered by related court settlements have seen debt approval totaling $28.7 billion.

Additionally, under these two plans, the administration has also approved $14.1 billion for more than 548,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities.

Another forgiveness plan from the Biden administration will reportedly relieve about 30 million borrowers by wiping out some or all of their student loan debt.

On April 12, Biden approved $7.4 billion in additional student debt relief for 277,000 people.

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