Biden cancels another $5 billion in student loans
President Biden on Friday canceled nearly $5 billion in student loan debt for 74,000 people, the administration's latest attempt to provide piecemeal relief after the Supreme Court rejected Biden's more ambitious loan cancellation plan last year.
Most of the people who will benefit from the latest round are teachers, nurses, firefighters and others in the public sector, who qualify for assistance under existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.
“My administration is able to provide relief to these borrowers – and millions more – thanks to fixes we made to broken student loan programs that prevented borrowers from getting the relief they are entitled to under the law,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.
His pledge to forgive student loans is a sticking point for crucial voting blocs, especially young people, and for Black borrowers who disproportionately take on the most student loans. More than 43 million people across the country owe $1.6 trillion in federal loans for college, according to government data.
The Biden administration has forgiven more than $136 billion in student debt for more than 3.7 million people as the White House finds solutions following the Supreme Court's ruling in June.
That more ambitious plan would have canceled up to $400 billion in student debt for about 43 million borrowers. But the court ruled that Mr. Biden had exceeded his authority with the plan.
The president said Friday that the administration “continues to pursue an alternative path to provide student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible.”
In October, the government forgave $9 billion in loans to about 125,000 borrowers working in the public sector and to people with permanent disabilities. Last month the The government announced nearly $5 billion supporting 80,300 borrowers.
The government also started a program known as SAVE, which would lower monthly payments and shorten loan terms for millions of borrowers.