President Joe Biden announced another round of student debt forgiveness Friday that’s expected to impact 74,000 borrowers. How can people know if they’re included?
According to Biden, close to 44,000 of those impacted are teachers, nurses, firefighters and other individuals who earned forgiveness after 10 years of public service. He said the other 30,000 “are people who have been in repayment for at least 20 years but never got the relief they earned through income-driven repayment plans.”
“The Biden administration a week ago said that, starting in February, people with less than $12,000 in student loans and who have been making payments for at least 10 years would get their remaining loan balance erased. Borrowers also have to be enrolled in the White House's new Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan,” CBS News reported.
Per the outlet, the breakdown of those covered in the nearly $5 billion round of forgiveness includes $1.7 billion for 29,700 borrowers through administrative adjustments to income-driven repayment and addresses concerns about loan services. It also includes $3.2 billion for 43,000 borrowers under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
“Total relief through PSLF now stands at $56.7 billion for 793,400 borrowers since late 2021,” CBS News said.
Anyone who believes they fall under the loan forgiveness categories covered in the recent debt relif announcment can apply at studentaid.gov.
Biden said Friday that this latest round of aid brings the total number of Americans with cancelled student debt to 3.7 million. He explained that fixes made to the “broken student loan programs” have allowed his administration to provide this relief – which the president said they were entitled to by law.
“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on our student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible,” he added.