On Friday, the Biden administration declared that it had granted an additional $5 billion in debt relief.
74,000 individuals, many of them public employees like teachers, nurses, and firemen, had their student debts covered by the change.
Biden Administration Extends Student Loan Repayment
Those who have been on a repayment plan for 20 years without having their debts forgiven are likewise covered by this.
“From day one of my administration, I vowed to improve the student loan system so that a higher education provides Americans with opportunity and prosperity — not unmanageable burdens of student loan debt,” Biden said in a statement. “I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.”
The relief for public service workers builds on October’s efforts to make permanent changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, making it easier for workers in education, healthcare, the military, law enforcement, and other fields to receive forgiveness after making on-time payments for ten years.
Following the Supreme Court’s rejection of Biden’s expansive debt reduction plan, the Biden administration has announced several rounds of student debt relief in various formats.
“We are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible,” Biden stated. “I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.”
The Education Department also announced last week that it will start early canceling student debts for borrowers enrolled in its Saving on a Valuable Education program. Borrowers whose original loans were for $12,000 or less and who had been making payments for at least ten years were covered by that scheme.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the broad net student forgiveness scheme was unconstitutional, the Revised Pay As You Earn scheme was replaced with the SAVE plan last year.
