Student Loan Forgiveness: Over 150k Americans Approved For $9 Billion in Debt Relief

United States North America Higher Education News by Erudera News Oct 09, 2023

student loan forgiveness

US President Joe Biden’s administration has announced that 125,000 Americans have been approved for $9 billion in debt relief.

According to a media release issued recently by the Department of Education, the total approved debt cancelation by the Biden-Harris administration to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million Americans, Erudera.com reports.

Commenting on the debt cancelation for this number of borrowers, the US Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, said that thanks to President Biden and his administration, millions of eligible borrowers will be able to access student debt relief.

“Today’s announcement builds on everything our administration has already done to protect students from unaffordable debt, make repayment more affordable, and ensure that investments in higher education pay off for students and working families,” Cardona said.

As part of the $9 billion in student loan forgiveness, the administration has approved $5.2 billion for 53,000 borrowers under Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs and approximately $2.8 billion for nearly 51,000 borrowers through fixes to income-driven repayment plans.

Additionally, $1.2 billion has been approved for nearly 22,000 borrowers with a total or permanent disability.

“The Biden-Harris administration has taken historic steps to reduce the burden of student debt and ensure that student loans are not a barrier to opportunity for students and families. The Administration earlier this year launched the most affordable student loan repayment plan – SAVE – which makes many borrowers’ monthly payments as low as $0 and prevents balances from growing because of unpaid interest,” the press release by the department reads.

So far, Biden’s administration has approved nearly $42 billion for about 855,000 student loan borrowers who qualified for forgiveness of their loans through the income-driven repayment plan. Moreover, the following has also been canceled:

  • Nearly $51 billion was paid to 715,000 public servants through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs.
  • $11.7 billion for nearly 513,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability.
  • $22.5 billion for over 1.3 million borrowers who were defrauded by their schools.

Most recently, the Department announced approval of $37 million in student debt relief for more than 1,200 borrowers who attended the University of Phoenix and were cheated by the institution in 2012.

US President Joe Biden announced his student loan forgiveness program last August, under which he would cancel $10,000 for borrowers who make less than $125,000 annually, and up to $20,00 for borrowers who went to college on Pell Grants.

However, the plan was soon blocked due to lawsuits filed by six conservative states. The case was sent to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the President had no authority to implement his $400 billion plan to forgive student loan debt.

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