U.S. Department of Education (EDU) Secretary Miguel Cardona expressed his confidence that the Biden administration's decision to forgive nearly $5 billion for an additional 74,000 student loan borrowers will significantly impact their lives. He further stated that the administration remains committed to pursuing further loan forgiveness.
Cardona announced, "Today we announced another $4.9 billion in student debt relief that helps people who are making their communities better; teachers, nurses, and other public service workers. And we're still fighting." He continued, "Since day one we have been passionate about fixing the public service loan forgiveness program so that our teachers don't have to work a second or third job bartending or ubering to make ends meet and pay off their student loans."
According to a media release from the EDU, approximately $4.9 billion in additional student loan debt relief will be received by 73,600 borrowers as a result of the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). To date, the Biden administration has forgiven $136.6 billion in student debt affecting over 3.7 million Americans.
Cardona said, "The Biden-Harris Administration has worked relentlessly to fix our country's broken student loan system and address the needless hurdles and administrative inaccuracies that, in the past, kept borrowers from getting the student debt forgiveness they deserved." He added that this new wave of debt relief would benefit teachers, social workers, and other public servants whose community service qualifies them for PSLF. Additionally, those qualifying for income-driven repayment forgiveness will also benefit due to more accurate accounting of their payments.
The release also noted that nearly $3.2 billion has been earmarked for 43,900 borrowers through PSLF and $1.7 billion will be allocated for 29,700 borrowers through administrative adjustments to IDR.
U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal commented, "Today we are helping borrowers who were promised help with their loans, planned their lives around those promises, and earned forgiveness through years of payments." He added that the Biden-Harris Administration will not stop until all those harmed by the flawed student loan system have been assisted.
