Student Loan Forgiveness: Biden To Wipe Another $4.8 Billion in Debt — Are You Among the 80,300 Who Qualify
Written by
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
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Two months following the resumption of student loan payments — which were on a three-year hiatus — President Joe Biden announced on Dec. 6 that an additional 80,300 Americans have been approved for $4.8 billion in debt relief.
This brings the total approved debt cancellation by the Biden-Harris Administration to nearly $132 billion for more than 3.6 million Americans, according to a Department of Education statement.
The Department of Education said that this was possible through fixes it has made to income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), as well as granting automatic relief for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, according to a statement.
“This relief is thanks to my Administration’s efforts to fix Public Service Loan Forgiveness, so teachers, members of the military, nurses, and other public service workers get the relief they have earned,” Biden said in a statement on the White House’s website. And it’s because of actions my Administration took to make sure that borrowers who have been in repayment for at least 20 years – but didn’t accurately get credit for student loan payments – get the relief they are entitled to.”
The administration said that this latest relief includes:
- $2.2 billion for nearly 46,000 borrowers through fixes to IDR that will provide borrowers with an accurate count of progress toward forgiveness and address longstanding concerns with misuse of forbearance. These are borrowers who made 20 years or more of payments but never got the relief they were entitled to.
- $2.6 billion for 34,400 borrowers through PSLF. This includes borrowers who have benefited through the limited PSLF waiver and ongoing regulatory improvements to the programs.
Dror Liebenthal, CEO and founder of Bold.org, said that the administration has noted historical difficulties with properly tracking who has been eligible for repayment under the PSLF program, so this announcement seeks primarily to correct these issues by forgiving loans for those who they believe should have been eligible.
“With federal student loan payments resuming in October, this announcement is a step toward providing much-needed clarity for borrowers,” added Liebenthal. “Borrowers who think they are eligible for loan forgiveness need to know their eligibility to properly plan the financial future for themselves and their families.”
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