With just a few days remaining in his term, President Joe Biden announced on Monday that his administration has authorized student loan relief for over 150,000 borrowers, increasing the total number of individuals who have had their student debt canceled under the Biden administration to more than 5 million, according to a White House statement.
Although Biden lost the legal fight to fulfill his campaign pledge of setting up a nationwide federal student loan forgiveness program, the president stated on Monday that his administration has still "forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in U.S. history."
The 150,000 new beneficiaries announced on Monday include over 80,000 borrowers who were fraudulently taken advantage of by their schools, over 60,000 borrowers who have total and permanent disabilities, and more than 6,000 public service workers, Biden stated in the release.
in 2023.
The Education Department shifted to existing programs meant to decrease the financial burden of loan repayments on financially struggling borrowers.
On Monday, Biden mentioned improvements to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. This program lets those working in the public sector wipe out the rest of their student debt after 10 years of payments.
Over the last four years, about 5 million people who borrowed money for a loan have had some or all of their debt eliminated. 1.4 million of them spent decades paying back their debts before being helped by the income-driven repayment programs, the President said. Another 1 million were public workers, like firefighters and teachers; 1.7 million had been scammed by higher education scams; and 663,000 had either total or permanent disabilities.
To borrowers facing severe financial difficulties as Biden's presidency nears its end.
in 2023.
A plea to lift the nationwide hold on his forgiveness plan that was put in place by a court of appeals in Missouri.
"My Administration has committed from day one to making higher education a key to the middle class, not a hurdle that keeps people from succeeding," Biden said in a statement released on Monday.
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