Student Loan Forgiveness

After federal judges in Kansas and Missouri sided in favor of Republican attorneys general by blocking parts of President Joe Biden’s student loan repayment program, the Department of Education announced it is freezing monthly student loan payments and interests of 3 million borrowers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As he campaigns for reelection, President Joe Biden frequently touts his work on student debt, pointing to the millions of people who received cancellation under his watch. Yet relatively few Americans say they’re fans of his work on the issue, even among those who have student loans.

President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he is canceling some $7.7 billion in student debt for another 160,000 borrowers.

The latest relief will go to borrowers in three categories: almost 67,000 borrowers who are eligible for debt cancellation through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, approximately 54,000 who are enrolled in a new income-driven repayment plan, and 39,200 enrolled in earlier income-driven plans.

The administration has been announcing new rounds of forgiveness as more people qualify under those categories.

The Biden administration is canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers through a combination of existing programs.

The Education Department announced the latest round of cancellation on Wednesday, saying it will erase $7.7 billion in federal student loans. With the latest action, the administration said it has canceled $167 billion in student debt for nearly 5 million Americans through several programs.

President Joe Biden has announced another $7.7 billion in student loans will not need to be repaid, with those who stand to benefit having an average of $35,000 in debt written off.

“Today, my administration is canceling student debt for 160,000 more people, bringing the total number of Americans who have benefitted from our debt relief actions to 4.75 million,” Biden said in a prepared statement.

President Biden canceled $7.4 billion in student loan debt on Friday as he tries to shore up support with young voters who are disproportionately affected by soaring education costs, but who may be drifting away over his policy on Israel and the war in Gaza.

The latest round of relief is part of a strategy by the White House to take smaller, targeted actions for certain subsets of borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down a far more ambitious plan to wipe out $400 billion in debt last year.

President Biden announced Friday he would be canceling student debt of more than 277,000 borrowers.

The administration is forgiving $7.4 billion for borrowers in more than 40 states in the latest debt relief program, bringing the total amount of student loan cancellation over Biden’s presidency to $153 billion.

The latest loan forgiveness initiative is coming through various income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, including the president’s newly established SAVE program.

The White House announced another student loan handout on Friday, bringing the total number of borrowers who have received President Biden’s debt relief so far to 4.3 million. According to the White House, the total student loan cancellation sum is a whopping $153 billion.

"Today, my Administration is canceling student debt for 277,000 more people, bringing the total number of Americans who have been approved for debt relief so far under my Administration to 4.3 million borrowers through various actions," Biden said Friday via the White House.