Today, President Joe Biden announced that his administration is approving student loan relief for over 150,000 borrowers. This decision increases the total number of Americans who have had their student debt canceled under his administration to more than 5 million.
The newly approved group of borrowers includes nearly 85,000 individuals who attended institutions accused of cheating and defrauding students, 61,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and 6,100 public service workers.
Biden emphasized his administration's efforts in reducing student debt burdens and holding accountable those responsible for misleading students. He stated: "My Administration has taken historic action to reduce the burden of student debt, hold bad actors accountable, and fight on behalf of students across the country."
This initiative includes reforms to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program to ensure that over a million public service workers receive the relief they are entitled to. Additionally, it involves approving relief for 1.7 million borrowers deceived by their schools and providing aid to 633,000 individuals with total and permanent disabilities. Furthermore, administrative errors in Income-Driven Repayment programs were addressed to assist over 1.4 million long-term repayment borrowers.
The administration also secured a significant increase in the maximum Pell Grant award in recent years to make higher education more accessible.
Reflecting on these efforts since taking office, Biden remarked: "Since Day One of my Administration, I promised to ensure higher-education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity," adding that this administration has forgiven more student loan debt than any other in history.
