With one week left in his presidency and after failing to deliver on his promise of wide-scale student loan cancellation, President Joe Biden announced on Monday that his administration would cancel student loans for more than 150,000 borrowers, targeting those who attended schools that defrauded students, those with permanent disabilities and public service workers.
This debt forgiveness amounts to $4.2 billion, bringing the total to about $183.6 billion in student loans forgiven since Biden took office, according to the Education Department. “Today, my Administration is approving student loan relief for more than 150,000 borrowers – bringing the total number of Americans who have had their student debt cancelled by my Administration to over 5 million,” said President Biden.
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The loan forgiveness was approved for 6,100 borrowers, totally $465 million, through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), nearly 85,000 borrowers for $1.26 billion in relief who attended schools that defrauded students, and an additional $2.5 billion for 61,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability, according to the Education Department.
Just three weeks ago, the President forgave $4.28 billion in student debt for 54,900 government and nonprofit workers after 10 years of qualifying payments in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which President-elect Trump proposed to eliminate during his first term.
“My Administration has taken historic action to reduce the burden of student debt, hold bad actors accountable, and fight on behalf of students across the country,” said Pres. Biden. “This includes fixing the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and ensuring over 1 million public service workers receive the student loan relief they are entitled to under the law, approving student loan relief for 1.7 million borrowers who were cheated and defrauded by their schools, delivering student debt relief to 633,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and fixing administrative errors in the Income-Driven Repayment programs to deliver relief to over 1.4 million borrowers who have been in repayment for decades.”
Related: Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan: A 3rd attempt at debt cancellation for 8M
Last October, Pres. Biden unveiled a new grand-scale plan to forgive student loans with a proposed new rule that would authorize forgiveness for eight million borrowers facing "hardship," despite his two previous unsuccessful attempts to cancel student loans on a grand scale.
Biden's first attempt at massive student loan forgiveness was axed by the Supreme Court on June 30, 2023. Hours later, the president announced the $475 billion Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which has been tied in federal courts for months and is now on hold, after a federal judge in Missouri blocked the plan earlier this month, just one day after a judge in Georgia gave approval to go forward.
"Since Day One of my Administration, I promised to ensure higher-education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and I’m proud to say we have forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in history," said Pres. Biden.
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Lynn Cavanaugh
Lynn Varacalli Cavanaugh is Senior Editor, Retirement at BenefitsPRO. Prior, she was editor-in-chief of the What's New in Benefits & Compensation newsletter. She has worked for major firms in the employee benefits space, Vanguard and Willis Towers Watson, as well as top media companies, including Condé Nast and American Media.
