President Joe Biden's administration may not have been able to deliver on its promise of student debt forgiveness for most Americans — but it has still slowly chipping away at the debt for a significant amount of people.
The administration announced on Thursday, Mar. 21 that it is forgiving another $5.8 billion in student loan debt for 77,700 borrowers. This relief is going to be given to who qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), a program designed to relieve those who work in public sector roles.
This debt relief puts the total student loan forgiveness by the Biden Administration to $143.6 billion which have affected nearly four million Americans. This includes $45.6 billion given to nearly a million Americans with income-driven repayment plans and $11.7 billion to over 500,000 Americans with total or permanent disability.
However, there is still well over $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loan
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Loopholes were present in the PSLF such that a minute percentage of those who believed they were qualified were actually forgiven for their loans — but the Biden administration said this forgiveness plan comes as a "result of fixes" made to the program.
“For too long, our nation’s teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters, and other public servants faced logistical troubles and trap doors when they tried to access the debt relief they were entitled to under the law. With this announcement, the Biden-Harris Administration is showing how we’re taking further steps not only to fix those trap doors, but also to expand opportunity to many more Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in the release.
Those who qualify are public service workers like those mentioned by Cardona who have made 10 years of monthly payments. According to the release, another 380,000 who are within two years or 24 qualifying monthly payments have been contacted via email to say that they their debt will be cancelled once they qualify.
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