Biden Administration Cancels Student Loans for 160,000 Borrowers
Reported by Tannu Jangra
The Biden administration is erasing $7.7 billion in student loans for 160,000 more borrowers, adding to a total of $167 billion cancelled for nearly 5 million Americans. This relief is part of President Biden’s effort to make higher education more accessible.
The latest round of cancellations includes:
– 54,000 borrowers in Biden’s new income-driven repayment plan.
– 39,000 borrowers in older income-driven plans.
– 67,000 borrowers eligible through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Biden’s new SAVE Plan offers a faster route to forgiveness, allowing borrowers to be debt-free after 10 years of payments instead of the previous 20 years.
Legal Challenges:
– Republican-led states have sued to block the SAVE Plan, arguing that Biden should have sought Congressional approval for the changes.
Fixing Past Mistakes:
– The administration is also correcting errors that delayed cancellation for some eligible borrowers.
Biden’s Broader Plan:
– The Biden administration is pushing for a one-time cancellation to aid over 30 million borrowers, targeting those with large unpaid interest, older loans, and other hardships. The proposal is still under review, but plans to waive unpaid interest for millions of borrowers starting this fall.
Critics argue this benefits wealthy graduates at the expense of taxpayers. The Supreme Court previously rejected an attempt at one-time cancellation, but the new plan is based on a different legal rationale.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona emphasized the impact, stating that one in ten federal student loan borrowers now has “financial breathing room and a burden lifted.”
Stay tuned as the Biden administration continues to work on expanding student debt relief.