Biden Administration Cancels Nearly $5 Billion More in Student Loan Debt

Though the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s signature student loan forgiveness program, which promised up to $20,000 in debt relief for low- and middle-income borrowers, the administration has continued to find other ways to provide debt relief.

“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 cancellations have come through existing federal student loan forgiveness programs, which are limited to specific categories of borrowers, such as public-sector workers, people defrauded by for-profit colleges and borrowers who have paid for at least 20 years.

Those borrowers who are eligible for relief under Wednesday’s announcement qualify in one of two ways: either under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which wipes away remaining student loan debt after qualifying public-sector workers make 10 years’ worth of monthly payments; or because they have made at least 20 years of qualifying payments in an income-driven repayment program but didn’t previously get credit for all of their student loan payments.

Most of these borrowers were notified in November that their outstanding federal student loan debt would be canceled and they can expect to see the changes made to their accounts in the coming weeks.

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.