The White House has announced the approval of debt relief totaling nearly $5 billion for an additional 74,000 student loan borrowers as part of the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to address the issue of student loan debt. While the Supreme Court had previously blocked Biden’s original $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan, his administration has made adjustments to existing programs within the U.S. Education Department, resulting in a total of $136 billion in student debt cancellation benefiting more than 3 million Americans, according to Bloomberg reports.
This move is seen as a critical step for President Biden to fulfill a key campaign promise, with the upcoming 2024 election adding to the significance of the issue.
The recipients of this latest round of debt relief include individuals enrolled in public-service loan forgiveness programs and U.S. income-driven repayment plans. Eligibility for forgiveness in these programs typically requires a decade or more of payments or service.
In a statement, President Biden explained, “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.” Some federal student loan plans had been mismanaged for up to 25 years, leading to these adjustments.
Of the individuals benefiting from this debt relief, approximately 43,900 are public servants, while 29,700 are enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. The White House highlighted that a significant portion of those receiving assistance are individuals in professions such as teaching, nursing, firefighting, and other public service roles.
It’s worth noting that President Biden’s initial proposal aimed to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans for 40 million Americans, but it faced opposition and legal challenges.
In response to ongoing pressure from various groups, including the AFL-CIO and the NAACP, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona received a letter from nearly 70 organizations requesting a reevaluation of the rulemaking process to include relief for borrowers who have experienced financial hardship.
Civil rights organizations, labor unions, and advocates for student loan forgiveness have been urging the president to take action on this issue, emphasizing the importance of assisting young people, people of color, and low-income borrowers. Recent polls have shown that support for President Biden among Black, Hispanic, and young voters has declined.
Critics of President Biden’s plan argue that addressing the high costs of college education, which they consider the root cause of the nation’s $1.77 trillion student debt crisis, would be a more effective approach to tackling the problem.
