Biden Administration Expands Student Debt Relief: $4.5 Billion For 60,000 Borrowers Through PSLF

Americans are getting more student debt relief. President Joe Biden has announced an additional $4.5 billion in student debt cancellation for more than 60,000 borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. 

White House officials announced that the latest round of relief now brings the total of public service workers who have had their student loans canceled to over 1 million people under the Biden-Harris Administration.

“This is something that is particularly of impact to Black borrowers, who are more likely to owe student debt and owe it for longer,” White House Spokesperson, Rodericka Applewhaite, says. “Our Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, is hearing from people how [student loan forgiveness] has allowed them to make a down payment on a home and this debt relief has allowed them to get to the next stage, and support their family.”  

Former President George W. Bush established the PSLF program in 2007 under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. It permits direct loan borrowers who make 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full time have the remainder of their balance forgiven. However, according to the Harris-Biden Administration, only 7,000 borrowers received forgiveness through PSLF before taking office.   

“This has allowed people to get what they were actually promised. This is a program specifically for people that put in a decade of public service and made a decade worth of payments on time,” says Applewhaite. “This also incentivizes people to join public service.”

While the Biden-Harris Administration has recently come under scrutiny for their student loan debt plan, with Republicans in states even challenging their plans in lawsuits across the country, Applewhaite says people should not be discouraged to apply for student loan debt forgiveness.

“The really good thing about the PSLF program is that it is not directly tied to whether or not the president is in office. It is a system that will continue to be actualized and something people who enter public service continue to benefit from,” Applewhaite adds.

Beyond the PSLF program, Applewhaite says more than $175 billion in student loans have been forgiven under the Biden-Harris Administration under various programs and continues to encourage Americans to apply for additional relief because it’s not too late.