On Thursday, the Biden administration announced around 77,700 teachers, firefighters, nurses and other public service workers will benefit from $5.8 billion in student loan relief. It’s the latest round of student debt forgiveness the White House says has totaled around $144 billion for just under four million Americans, partially fulfilling a key 2020 campaign promise as the 2024 general election cycle heats up.
Another roughly 380,000 public service workers will begin to get emails next week letting them know they are on pace to see their debt canceled in the next two years.
“Since I came into office, over 800,000 public service workers have received student loan forgiveness through the” Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, Biden wrote in an email that will be sent out to some in that second pool of borrowers. “Before that, only 7,000 people had ever gotten relief through the program since it was created over fifteen years ago.”
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement that borrowers in public service roles faced “logistical troubles and trap doors when they tried to access debt relief they were entitled to under law.” Now, a senior administration official said on Wednesday, public service workers who have been making payments on their loans for 10 or more years will have their debt entirely forgiven.
“The Biden Administration is turning a promise broken under our predecessor into a promise kept,” Cardona added in the statement.
At a White House event on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris said the program had forgiven an average of $60,000 for public service workers.
Thursday’s announcement comes as Biden and his administration have worked on a multi-pronged approach to help relieve Americans of some of the roughly $1.7 trillion in student loans being paid off. Last June, the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s plan to cancel around $400 billion in debt for around 43 million Americans -- including roughly 20 million who would have seen their debt eliminated entirely.
Since then, as he geared up for a general election rematch with former President Donald Trump, Biden has announced billions in relief near monthly using his executive authorities as the chances of a bipartisan agreement on student debt relief coming out of Congress appear nonexistent. Beyond the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which predated his administration, Biden also introduced the Saving on Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan.
The SAVE plan was created last year to replace other existing income-based repayment plans offered by the federal government. More borrowers are now eligible to have their monthly payments reduced to $0, and many will qualify for lower payments compared to other repayment plans. Borrowers can apply to the SAVE plan using the Income-Driven Repayment Plan request through the Education Department’s website.
Biden and his surrogates repeatedly boast of their efforts at official White House events and on the campaign trail.
“Joe Biden did $138 billion of student debt relief that’s helped four million Americans with one hand behind his back,” Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said at an Atlanta rally earlier this month.
And on Saturday, at the annual Gridiron Club dinner, Biden used his record on student debt cancellation to needle his rival, who both opposes student debt relief and has found himself nearly half-a-billion dollars in debt to New York State with, so far, no way to pay it.
“Our big plan to cancel student debt doesn't apply to everyone. Just yesterday, a defeated-looking man came up to me and said, ‘I'm being crushed by debt. I'm completely wiped out,’” Biden joked. “I said, ‘Sorry, Donald, I can't help you.’”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.