The Biden-Harris administration revealed on Thursday a new wave of student loan forgiveness, erasing $4.5 billion in debt for over 60,000 public service workers. According to a news release from the Department of Education, this relief was made possible by “significant fixes” to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. With this announcement, President Biden’s total student loan forgiveness now exceeds $175 billion, benefitting 4.8 million Americans, including $74 billion for more than one million borrowers under PSLF.
“When President Biden and I took office, only 7,000 people had ever been approved for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Today, I am proud to say that a record one million teachers, nurses, first responders, social workers, and other public service workers have received student debt cancelation,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a White House statement.
Initially, a White House briefing noted the total for the handouts at $4.7 billion, but it was later corrected to $4.5 billion.
“Our Administration has forgiven over $170 billion in student debt for nearly five million people throughout the country — more than any Administration in history,” Harris said, who is also the Democratic nominee for president in the upcoming 2024 election.
The PSLF program aims to forgive student loans for those in government and nonprofit roles after completing 10 years of qualifying payments. However, the administration reported that prior to Biden’s presidency, nearly 98% of applicants were turned away. Reforms implemented by the Education Department have broadened eligibility for loan forgiveness, including accepting previous payments made under other federal programs toward the PSLF requirement.
These program adjustments have resulted in multiple rounds of loan forgiveness over recent months, including a notable announcement in July that provided $1.2 billion in relief to an additional 35,000 borrowers.
Despite these initiatives, President Biden’s ambition to eliminate all federal student loan debt has faced substantial legal challenges. Earlier this year, a coalition of states led by Republicans lodged a lawsuit against Biden’s SAVE income-driven repayment plan, which is intended to make payments more manageable and to forgive debt after a decade of repayment.
Critics from the Republican side have labeled the president’s student loan forgiveness strategy as an overreach and an inequitable advantage for college graduates, leaving others without similar relief.
Recently, U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp in St. Louis, appointed by former President Trump, issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the Biden administration from “mass canceling” student loans or forgiving principal and interest while the lawsuit remains pending.
Additionally, the Supreme Court previously nullified Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s attempt to forgive over $430 billion in student loans in a 6-3 ruling. A subsequent effort by the Biden administration to alleviate debt for 30 million borrowers under the Higher Education Act of 1965 has also halted in the courts.
Nevertheless, a senior administration official stated Wednesday that the Department of Education plans to persist with focused relief efforts for borrowers, even amid ongoing litigation concerning Biden’s comprehensive loan forgiveness strategies.
“From day one of my Administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” Biden said Thursday in a statement. “I will never stop working to make higher education affordable — no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us.”
