Biden administration to forgive $39B in student loan debt for 800K borrowers

The U.S. Education Department announced Friday that more than 800,000 student loan borrowers would have their debt forgiven in the coming weeks. The plan results from fixes to existing income-driven repayment plans and is expected to total $39 billion in federal student loan forgiveness.

Under income-driven repayment plans, borrowers can have the remaining loan balance forgiven by the government after making payments for 20 years or 25 years, depending on when they took the loan and the type of repayment plan they chose. In the past, payments that "should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accounted for," the department said in a news release.

"For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness," said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. By rectifying "past administrative failures," the department is "ensuring everyone gets the forgiveness they deserve, just as we have done for public servants, students who were cheated by their colleges, and borrowers with permanent disabilities, including veterans," Cardona added.

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Friday's announcement is the latest attempt from the Biden administration to fulfill the president's promise to provide relief for millions of federal student loan borrowers, with loan repayments finally resuming in October. The latest plan "continues efforts that have already resulted in more debt being canceled during his tenure than any other president," CNN wrote. Despite the Supreme Court striking down his loan forgiveness program, "his administration has continued to pursue other avenues to cancel debt and make it easier for borrowers to receive loan forgiveness," the outlet added. So far, the Biden administration has approved $116.6 billion in student debt relief for more than 3.4 million Americans, per the Department of Education.