Biden-Harris administration announces $4.5bn in additional student debt relief

The Biden-Harris administration announced today an additional $4.5bn in student debt relief for over 60,000 public service workers.

The latest round of relief has brought total student loan cancellation to over $175bn for nearly 5 million people since Biden took office in 2021, roughly 11% of all outstanding federal student loan debt, including 1 million public service workers holding $74bn in federal student debt.

Prior to the Biden-Harris Administration, only 7,000 public servants ever received relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which was established in 2007.

“From Day One, the Biden-Harris administration made fixing this broken program a top priority, and today, I’m tremendously proud that over one million teachers, nurses, social workers, veterans, and other public servants have received lifechanging loan forgiveness,” said US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, in a statement announcing the latest round of student debt relief.

“As Secretary of Education, I want to send a message to college students across America that pursuing a career in public service is not only a noble calling but a reliable pathway to becoming debt-free within a decade.”

Under the Biden administration, over 1.4 million borrowers received $56.5bn in relief through the income-driven repayment plan; more than 1.6 million borrowers who were cheated by their schools received $28.7bn in relief, and nearly 572,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability received $16.2bn in relief.

Biden’s one-time student loan forgiveness program was struck down by the US supreme court in 2023, which would have provided up to $20,000 in student loan debt relief for borrowers. An additional student debt relief program, the Saving on a Valuable Education (Save) launched by the Biden Administration last year, is also tied up in litigation as several Republican states sued to block its implementation.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Georgia allowed a temporary block on Biden’s latest student loan forgiveness program to expire. If the program survives additional challenges in court, it could provide student debt relief to over 30 million Americans.

As these student debt relief efforts have been blocked or delayed, the Biden administration has utilized existing programs to provide or make it easier for borrowers to qualify for relief.

The Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, has vowed to continue these efforts.

“Higher education should be a pathway to economic opportunity – not a lifetime of debt. That is why I have fought to make education more affordable and reduce the burden of student debt throughout my career,” said Vice-President Harris in a statement on the announcement.

“And while Republican elected officials do everything in their power to block millions of their own constituents from receiving this much needed economic relief, I will continue our work to lower costs, make higher education more affordable, and relieve the burden of student debt.”