With the holidays just around the corner, some borrowers will be getting an early gift of student loan forgiveness.
President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Friday that it has approved $4.28 billion in additional student loan relief for 54,900 borrowers who work in public service. This includes teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants.
This brings the total loan forgiveness from the Biden-Harris administration to around $180 billion for nearly 5 million Americans.
“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,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.
The PSLF program was created to help those who dedicate their careers to public service by canceling a portion of their federal student loan debt after they make 10 years of qualifying payments. However, the program has been criticized for leaving many borrowers ineligible despite meeting the criteria. The Biden administration worked to streamline the process, making it less bureaucratic and giving relief to those who need it most.
This comes after a long battle with the federal courts during his administration’s effort to cancel student loan debt. Americans owe about $1.6 trillion, yes trillion, as of June 2024—which is 42% more than what they owed a decade earlier.
The road to forgiveness has been paved with blocks and setbacks.
Led by six Republican-led state courts in October, a federal judge in Missouri put his decision on hold on the Biden administration’s plan to bring student loan forgiveness for Americans. A few months earlier, when Biden announced another round of student debt forgiveness for millions of borrowers in July, federal appeals court judges also blocked his Saving on a Valuable Education plan.
And even before that, when Biden initially announced his plan to cancel a sweeping $400 billion in student loan debt, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court rejected it, arguing that the administration needed Congress's endorsement before undertaking such a costly program.
His most recent move is the latest in a four-part policy agenda that Biden is focusing on before he leaves office on Jan. 20 and is succeeded by Donald Trump. In addition to student loan forgiveness, Biden’s priorities include artificial intelligence, clemency, and land protection.
As the administration moves forward with its debt relief plans, the hope is that this ongoing effort will lead to lasting reform in the student loan system. This system has long been criticized for its lack of transparency and fairness and for preventing Americans from moving up financially.
Biden’s latest approval of $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness signals that, despite the legal hurdles, the administration is committed to ensuring that public servants receive the relief they deserve.
