ICYMI: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $5 Billion in Debt Relief for Over 80,000 Borrowers

Yesterday, President Biden announced that his Administration approved another $4.8 Billion in student debt cancellation, bringing the total relief his Administration has approved to $132 billion for over 3.6 million Americans through various actions. The most recent announcement includes debt relief for public service workers like nurses, teachers, first responders and others due to the Biden Administration's fixes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and relief for borrowers who have been in repayment for at least 20 years as a result of fixes the Administration made to Income-Driven Repayment plans.

From Day One of his Administration, President Biden vowed to improve the student loan system so that higher education provides Americans access to opportunity – and he is delivering on that promise.

Read more below:

CNN: Biden administration cancels nearly $5 billion more in student loan debt
[Katie Lobosco, 12/6/23]

"We are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible," Biden said in a statement Wednesday.

[…]

The Biden administration has been granting student loan forgiveness through these existing programs on a rolling basis since coming into office. To date, it has granted more student loan forgiveness than any other administration – in part due to efforts to temporarily expand some debt relief programs and to correct past administrative errors made to borrowers' student loan accounts.

Reuters: Biden administration forgives $4.8 bln in student debt
[Katherine Jackson, 12/6/23]

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday his administration had approved $4.8 billion in student debt cancellation for 80,300 people.

"This brings the total debt cancellation my administration has approved to $132 billion for over 3.6 million Americans through various actions," Biden said in a statement.

CBS News: Nearly $5 billion in additional student loan forgiveness approved by Biden administration
[C. Mandler, 12/6/23]

"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," said Biden.

"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."

USA Today: Biden forgives $5 billion more in student loans for over 80,000 borrowers. Who qualified?
[Zachary Schermele, 12/6/23]

It's the latest tranche of relief to come for Americans who already qualify for debt cancellation through programs such as income-driven repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

About half of the forgiveness, $2.2 billion for about 46,000 borrowers, announced Wednesday came from what the administration referred to as "fixes" to the federal income-driven repayment process, which the department says historically hasn't counted progress toward forgiveness accurately, leaving borrowers who've been paying down their loans for more than two decades unfairly on the hook.

The rest, about $2.6 billion for more than 34,000 borrowers, was for PSLF participants ? people working as teachers, public defenders and other public sector jobs ? who've also had their repayment timelines reassessed in recent months.

Forbes: Biden Approves $5 Billion In Student Loan Forgiveness For 80,000 As Key Deadline Nears
[Adam Minsky, 12/6/23]

Borrowers who receive enough credit to reach the threshold for student loan forgiveness — which is either 20 or 25 years for IDR, or 10 years of PSLF — could receive a full discharge. Over 800,000 borrowers have already been approved for student loan forgiveness under the adjustment, as the department is implementing the program in batches every two months. The latest loan forgiveness approvals bring the total number to nearly 900,000.

Axios: Biden forgives another $5 billion in student loans
[Sareen Habeshian, 12/7/23]

State of play: That brings the total approved student debt cancellation by the Biden administration to $132 billion for more than 3.6 million Americans.

Details: A portion of the relief comes as a part of the administration's effort to "fix" the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which wipes out the student loan balance of public service workers who have worked for 10 years and made 120 qualifying payments.

• $2.6 billion of relief is going to 34,400 borrowers through PSLF.
• Another $2.2 billion is for nearly 46,000 borrowers through fixes to the Income-Driven Repayment plan.
• The adjustment to IDR "will provide borrowers with an accurate count of progress toward forgiveness and address longstanding concerns with misuse of forbearance," per the Department of Education.

Fox Business: Biden administration to forgive nearly $5B in additional student loan debt
[Bradford Betz, 12/7/23]

"Before President Biden took office, it was virtually impossible for eligible borrowers to access the student debt relief they rightfully earned," U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

"The data released today once again make clear that the Biden-Harris Administration's relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system are paying off in a big way… This level of debt relief is unparalleled and we have no intention of slowing down."

CNBC: Biden administration to forgive $4.8 billion in student loan debt for 80,300 borrowers
[Annie Nova, 12/6/23]

More than $2 billion of the aid will go to nearly 46,000 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. Those plans are supposed to lead to debt forgiveness after a set period, but this often didn't happen because loan servicers failed to keep track of borrowers' payments, experts say.

Bloomberg: Biden Moves to Forgive Nearly $5 Billion in Student Loans
[Justin Sink, 12/6/23]

President Joe Biden moved to forgive $4.8 billion in student loans Wednesday, providing relief to more than 80,000 borrowers including public sector employees and Americans who have been repaying their federal debts for decades.

The move implements regulatory changes taken by the administration to expand access to existing programs. Under new rules, the US wiped out $2.6 billion in loans for more than 34,000 federal, state, local, and nonprofit employees, including teachers and members of the military.

Spectrum: Biden administration cancels an additional nearly $5 billion in student loans
[Maddie Gannon, 12/7/23]

The Department of Education on Wednesday announced it canceled an additional nearly $5 billion in federal student loans impacting more than 80,000 borrowers, marking the Biden administration's latest effort to chip away at student debt.

Bangor Daily News: Thousands of Mainers will receive student debt relief
[Carol Bousquet, 12/7/23]

In Maine, more than 3,700 public servants have now had their student debt forgiven due to changes in the system by the Department of Education, so long as they made 120 student loan repayments on time.

More than 5,300 student loan borrowers in Maine have now received credit toward forgiveness of their loans under the income driven repayment plan.
Cardona said an investigation of the income driven repayment plan that ties monthly payments to a borrower's discretionary income failed to credit payments time and time again.

"We also had borrowers who spent decades making payments under IDR for 20 to 25 years in hopes of earning forgiveness. Our team found administrative failures showed payments were not counted, effectively cheating borrowers out of credit toward forgiveness," he said.

WISH TV Indianapolis: Student debt canceled for Indiana borrowers
[Brady Gibson, 12/6/23]

Nearly $2 billion of student debt has been forgiven in Indiana, according to the White House.

Numbers obtained by WISH-TV show more than 35,000 Indiana borrowers have seen debt eliminated.

It also announced an additional $4.8 billion in student debt relief for more than 80,000 borrowers nationwide.

Black Enterprise: BIDEN APPROVES $5 BILLION MORE TOWARD STUDENT LOAN DEBT
[Rafael Pena, 12/7/23]

In addition to debt cancellation, the Biden administration has taken steps to ease the burden on borrowers as federal student loan payments resumed in October. The introduction of the SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education) repayment plan and a 12-month on-ramp period aim to provide relief and shield borrowers from severe consequences during the transition.