Chicago – July 19, 2024
The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it will cancel $1.2 billion in student debt for 35,000 workers, thanks to improvements made to a popular debt relief program for public service employees.
“Once again, the Biden-Harris administration delivers on its historic efforts to reduce the burden of student debt — making needed and long overdue improvements to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, started by President George W. Bush in 2007, helps not-for-profit and government employees get their federal student loans canceled after ten years of repayment. However, the program had many issues, making it rare for people to receive relief. Borrowers often thought they were eligible, only to find out later that they didn’t qualify due to technical reasons like their loan type or repayment plan.
Since President Joe Biden took office, the administration has forgiven $69.2 billion in student debt for 946,000 borrowers under PSLF. Before Biden, only 7,000 people had received relief through the program.
