WASHINGTON CNN —
With less than three weeks to go until the November election, the Biden-Harris administration is showing how the Biden-Harris administration will raise a historic amount of money, even as Republicans challenge some of its initiatives in court and balk at the cost. It’s reminding voters how well they’ve delivered debt relief.
Another round of forgiveness was announced Thursday, bringing the total amount of student loan cancellations for about 5 million people to more than $175 billion since President Joe Biden took office. This represents about 11% of all federal student loan debt.
More than 1 million of these student loan borrowers received debt forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which promises loan forgiveness to public sector employees such as teachers and nurses after 10 years of qualifying payments. is receiving.
Although the PSLF program has been in place for more than 15 years, it has been riddled with administrative problems.
“For too long, our government has failed to deliver on its promises, and until Vice President (Kamala) Harris and I took office, only 7,000 people received forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program,” Biden said in a statement. Ta.
“We vowed to solve it,” he added.
Biden’s Department of Education has made it easier for borrowers to qualify for PSLF. This is in stark contrast to former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly proposed ending the program while in the White House.
Thursday’s announcement will affect about 60,000 borrowers who are currently approved for about $4.5 billion in student debt relief under PSLF.
Biden’s signature one-time student loan forgiveness program was struck down by the Supreme Court last year. That would wipe out up to $20,000 in student loans for many low- and moderate-income borrowers. In 2022, 16 million borrowers received emails from the Biden administration saying they were eligible for debt forgiveness, but were never granted loan forgiveness under the program.
This debt relief program is estimated to cost more than $400 billion.
In a recent interview on the podcast “Call Her Daddy,” Harris was asked what she would say to borrowers who have been told their student loans will be forgiven but haven’t received relief.
“We are fighting and will continue to fight for student loan relief,” Harris said.
“This is a barrier to people thinking about starting a family and buying a home, or even thinking about it. We have to give people a sense of security,” she added. .
Recent student loan relief efforts, including a new repayment plan known as Savings for Worthy Education (SAVE) launched by the Biden administration last year, have also been embroiled in litigation.
The lawsuit was brought by a group of Republican-led states that argue the Education Department lacks legal authority to implement the costly debt relief program.
“And while Republican elected officials will do everything in their power to prevent millions of their constituents from receiving this much-needed economic relief, I will cut costs and expand higher education.” We will continue to work to make it more affordable and reduce the burden of student loans,” Harris said in a statement Thursday.
Biden has been able to achieve more student debt relief than under any other president through existing programs that affect specific categories of borrowers. In some cases, the administration has made it easier for borrowers to qualify for the program and streamlined the application process.
The Biden administration has made it easier for about 572,000 people with permanent disabilities to receive the debt relief they are entitled to.
It also granted student loan forgiveness to more than 1.6 million borrowers who were defrauded by their universities. The backlog of debt relief claims built up during the Trump administration, which sought to limit the program. Those efforts ultimately failed.
The Biden administration has made several changes to the PSLF program. In the past, many borrowers believed they were eligible, but after years of making payments, they ended up on the wrong type of repayment plan or with the wrong type of loan. He claimed to have noticed that they had been assembled.
“People have lost faith. They called PSLF a cruel joke, a broken promise, and a nightmare. When I became secretary, this is how people described the program to me.” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a call with reporters.
The Biden administration will conduct a one-time recount of borrowers’ past payments and make adjustments if they were incorrectly counted, bringing many people closer to debt forgiveness. We also made changes to PSLF so that borrowers can receive a forgiveness credit if their payments are late in installments or in a lump sum.
