PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Between student loan borrowers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, nearly 10,000 people could have their debt completely forgiven under a program announced Thursday by the White House.
“In Pennsylvania, we’re looking at 5,600 people with over $45 million in total forgiveness,” said U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. In New Jersey, 4,100 borrowers will get a total of $35 million forgiven.
The program is a new facet of a student loan repayment plan that the White House is calling SAVE. More than 7.5 million people have enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan.
The debt cancellations were originally scheduled to start in July, but last month, the administration said it would be ready almost six months ahead of schedule, in February.
No action is necessary to have the loans forgiven. White House adviser Neera Tanden said Biden sent out 153,000 emails starting on Wednesday to everyone who qualifies — that is, borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan who have made payments on their loans for 10 years and who borrowed $12,000 or less.
The first round of forgiveness from the SAVE plan will clear $1.2 billion in loans. The borrowers will get emails with a message from Biden notifying them that “all or a portion of your federal student loans will be forgiven because you qualify for early loan forgiveness under my Administration’s SAVE Plan.”
Tanden said she encourages all borrowers to sign up for the SAVE plan because it provides the most affordable repayments, and the Education Department will continue to identify borrowers who qualify for total forgiveness.
Cardona said the goal is to make college more affordable for more people.
“When we talk about fixing a broken loan system, when we talk about opening access to higher education and not having it be a lifetime of debt, this is what we’re talking about,” he said.
He calls it life-changing — “to put money back in the pockets of people with the greatest need and give them crucial breathing room to invest in themselves, their families and their futures.”
Borrowers can enroll in the SAVE program at studentaid.gov/save.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.