Biden administration cancels another $1.2 billion in student loan debt bringing total to nearly $169 billion

The Biden administration announced it has approved another $1.2 billion in student loan debt forgiveness bringing the total debt borrowers have seen canceled since President Biden took office to nearly $169 billion.

It is the latest step in an ongoing push by the president to wipe out student loan debt for millions of student loan borrowers and comes as Biden is facing mounting pressure to step aside and not seek a second term.

The new round of relief impacted 35,000 public services workers. In total, nearly 4.8 million Americans have seen student loan debt canceled over the past three and a half years.

Some have hailed the ongoing effort for providing relief to those burdened by ballooning debt, but it has also drawn strong condemnation from others who have called wiping student loan debt unfair and accuse Biden of attempting to 'buy votes' as he remains in the presidential race.

The borrowers who saw their debt canceled on Thursday had their debt wiped out thanks to changes made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

President Biden giving remarks on student loan debt relief in Madison, WI on April 8, 2024. The administration has canceled nearly $169 billion in debt since the president took office

The Biden administration has been slowly chipping away at the nearly $1.8 trillion in student loan debt.

946,000 borrowers including teachers, nurses, firefighters and others have seen their debts forgiven through  the PSLF program since Biden took office. Before that, only 7,000 public service workers had received relief though out.

Thursday's round of debt cancelation included some who took part in a temporary opportunity for relief with a waiver that ended in October 2022 as well as those who benefited from permanent regulatory changes to the program.  

'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 (PSLF) Program,' Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. 

'The additional Americans approved for PSLF today are hardworking public servants who will finally receive the financial breathing room they were promised,' he added.

Student demonstrators outside the Supreme Court on June 30, 2023. The Supreme Court last year blocked President Biden's original student loan debt relief plan

Qualified borrowers have the remainder of their federal student loan balances forgiven once they make 120 qualified monthly payments. Borrowers seeing their debt canceled can track progress through the federal student aid website. 

The Biden administration has been steadily canceling debt despite the Supreme Court blocking its original plan to cancel student loan debt nearly a year ago. 

After the first effort was blocked, the administration shifted its approach to go through a more lengthy rule-making process.

Last summer, Biden announced the income-driven SAVE plan. More than eight million borrowers have been given relief through the plan. 

Overall, more than one in every ten federal student loan borrowers have seen debt forgiven to date, according to the Biden administration. 

But more than a dozen Republican state Attorneys General have signed on to lawsuits in an attempt to block the Biden administration's SAVE plan effort.

They have accused the administration of transferring the burden of the student loan debt to other taxpayers who did not choose to take out massive loans or receive expensive college degrees.

Last month, Kansas and Missouri district court judges blocked the administration from fully implementing the plan, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the the Kansas injunction on hold on July 1 and allowed for parts of the plan to resume.

Last week, Alaska, South Carolina and Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in and block the student loan cancelation plan.

The Biden administration previously estimated the SAVE plan would cost $156 billion over a decade. The Congressional Budget Office said the figure is closer to $230 billion.