President Biden announced that an additional 277,000 Americans will have their student debt canceled, bringing the total amount of debt relief approved by the Biden-Harris Administration to $153 billion for 4.3 million Americans through various initiatives.
This latest round of debt forgiveness follows President Biden’s announcement of new plans that could potentially eliminate student debt for more than 30 million Americans when combined with previous actions taken by the Administration over the past three years. These recent developments underscore the President’s dedication to utilizing all available avenues to provide student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible through a variety of measures.
The 277,000 individuals benefiting from this latest round of debt relief include borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan, as well as those enrolled in Income-Driven Repayment plans and recipients of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The Biden-Harris Administration established the SAVE Plan last year, which is considered the most cost-effective repayment plan to date. Currently, 8 million borrowers are enrolled in SAVE, with 4.5 million of them having a monthly payment of $0, and over 1 million additional borrowers having a monthly payment of less than $100.
Moreover, for borrowers with low loan balances, the SAVE Plan offers a quicker path to debt relief after a minimum of ten years of payments. Since assuming office, President Biden’s Administration has approved over $54 billion in debt cancellation for 1.3 million borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans, including those under the new SAVE Plan.
This complements the efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration to cancel debt for nearly 900,000 public service workers, 1.3 million borrowers defrauded by their educational institutions or covered by relevant court settlements, and close to 550,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, including numerous veterans. As the Administration persists in canceling student debt for Americans by enhancing existing forgiveness programs and implementing new initiatives, the commitment to providing relief to borrowers remains steadfast.