ICYMI: Biden-Harris Administration cancels student debt for 35,000 borrowers through PSLF, bringing total number of Americans benefiting from debt relief actions to 4.76 million

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced it is canceling student debt for 35,000 people through Public Service Loan Forgiveness, bringing the total number of Americans who have benefitted from its various debt relief actions to 4.76 million people. Each of those borrowers has received an average of over $35,000 in debt cancellation. These 35,000 borrowers approved for forgiveness today are public service workers – teachers, nurses, law enforcement officials, and first responders who have dedicated their lives to strengthening their communities, and because of the fixes we made to Public Service Loan Forgiveness, they will now have more breathing room to support themselves and their families.

President Biden and his Administration will never stop fighting to make higher education more affordable, no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop them.

Read more below:

Axios: Biden administration cancels another $1.2B in student debt
[Jacob Knutson, 7/18/24]

The Biden administration will forgive $1.2 billion in student debt for another 35,000 public service workers, the Department of Education announced on Thursday.

Why it matters: The Biden administration's latest round of debt relief brings the total loan forgiveness it has approved to $168.5 billion for 4.76 million borrowers.

How it works: The Education Department said that the relief was made possible via its work to overhaul the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

PSLF allows public employees, such as teachers, firefighters, members of law enforcement, and people who work for nonprofit organizations, to apply for forgiveness after making 10 years' worth of payments on their federal student loan balance.

CBS News: Biden administration forgives another $1.2 billion in student loans. Here's who qualifies.
[Aimee Picchi, 7/18/24]

[…] The people who qualify for forgiveness in the latest round of debt cancellation are part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which is designed to help public servants such as teachers, nurses and law enforcement officers get their debt canceled after 10 years of repayments. While PSLF has been around since 2007, until recently very few borrowers were able to get debt relief due to its notoriously complex regulations and often misleading guidance from loan companies.

But the Biden administration has overhauled the program's rules, enabling more public servants to qualify for forgiveness.

"The additional Americans approved for PSLF today are hardworking public servants who will finally receive the financial breathing room they were promised — and all PSLF recipients can easily track and manage the process through StudentAid.gov," U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in the statement.

CNN: Biden announces additional $1.2 billion in student debt relief for 35,000 public-sector workers
[Katie Lobosco, 7/18/24]

President Joe Biden announced another round of student loan debt forgiveness Thursday, totaling $1.2 billion for 35,000 public-sector workers including teachers, nurses and firefighters.

The borrowers qualify for the debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which was created nearly two decades ago and expanded by the Biden administration's efforts to make it easier to qualify.

CNBC: Education Department to forgive $1.2 billion in student debt for 35,000 borrowers
[Annie Nova, 7/18/24]

The Biden administration announced Thursday it will cancel $1.2 billion in student debt for 35,000 workers, as a result of its recent fixes to a popular debt relief program for public service workers.

"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," U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

[…] The Biden administration has so far cleared $69.2 billion in student debt for 946,000 borrowers under PSLF, according to the Education Department. Before President Joe Biden took office, just 7,000 people had received relief through the program.

Bloomberg: Biden Forgives $1.2 Billion in Student Loans in Latest Relief
[Akayla Gardner, 7/18/24]

President Joe Biden canceled an additional $1.2 billion in student debt for public servants on Thursday […].

The assistance will affect 35,000 public service workers enrolled in the government's loan forgiveness program, including nurses, firefighters and teachers. The individuals received waivers or were affected by regulatory changes that gave them more credit toward the system's decade-long payment requirement.

"They will now have more breathing room to support themselves and their families," Biden said in a statement.