On January 19, the Biden-Harris administration announced its latest move to reform student loan debt in the US. The administration announced $4.9 billion in student debt relief for 73,600 borrowers, bringing the federal government’s loan forgiveness total to $136.6 billion and helping nearly 3.7 million Americans.
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION FORGIVES AN ADDITIONAL $4.9 BILLION IN STUDENT LOANS (Photo: Google)
Cardona Applauds Administration’s Commitment to Student Loan Overhaul
Miguel Cardona, US Secretary of Education, praised the administration’s dedication to fixing the student loan system. Cardona stressed the need to remove barriers and administrative errors that prevented debtors from seeking debt relief.
Cardona stated that public personnel will receive a large chunk of this current debt reduction. He said the approximately $5 billion forgiven in this round will mostly assist teachers, social workers, and other Public Service Loan Forgiveness recipients. Administrative enhancements appropriately account for income-driven repayment forgiveness borrowers’ payments.
The press statement divided debt reduction into two groups. The first category allotted $1.7 billion for 29,700 people through IDR payment count changes. In February, anyone enrolling in the White House’s Saving on a Valuable Education Plan repayment plan and making payments for at least 10 years with student loan amounts under $12,000 will have their balances erased.
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Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
The second group gave 43,000 debtors $3.2 billion under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Since 2021, this program has forgiven $56.7 billion to 793,400 debtors. The Department of Education has actively encouraged qualified borrowers who have not enrolled to take advantage of this opportunity.
The U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal stressed the administration’s desire to help student loan victims. Kvaal highlighted that the government will continue to support debtors who were promised relief, arranged their lives around it, and made years of payments to obtain forgiveness.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is not going to stop until we’ve helped all of those harmed by the broken student loan system,” Kvaal said, expressing the administration’s commitment to fixing the nation’s student loan system.
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