President Biden announced on Friday he would be canceling more student debt for tens of thousands of public service workers, possibly his last major move on the issue before leaving office in a month.
The administration said it will spend nearly $4.3 billion to cancel student debt for 55,000 such workers, the result of fixes made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
“Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.
“With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers,” Cardona added. “The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people.”
After Friday’s announcement, the Biden administration has forgiven $180 billion in student loans for 5 million borrowers.
Under the PSLF program, more than a million Americans received $78 billion in relief.
The Associated Press reports Biden is also pulling back some unfinished student debt relief plans, such as forgiveness for those going through hardship.
Biden is reportedly scrapping the pending regulations so the Trump administration can’t come in and easily modify the plans to move forward measures that could harm student loan forgiveness. Instead, President-elect Trump will have to start over with a process that takes months to years if he wants to make his own changes.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.
