The White House announced Friday that the Biden administration will forgive $7.4 billion in student loans for 277,000 borrowers. This is the latest in a series of debt cancellations.
Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a plan to reduce student debt that will benefit at least 23 million Americans, addressing key issues for young voters who need help as Biden seeks re-election in November. .
These plans include canceling up to $20,000 in unpaid and capitalized interest for borrowers, regardless of income, which the Biden administration says will eliminate all interest for 23 million borrowers. I am estimating.
The White House said in a statement that the debt relief package will benefit 277,000 Americans enrolled in Save Plans, other borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans, and borrowers receiving Public Service Loan Forgiveness. said to have an impact on
This follows an announcement in March that $6 billion in student loans would be canceled for 78,000 borrowers.
The administration announced Friday that it had approved $153 billion in student debt relief for 4.3 million Americans.
Biden, a Democrat, promised last year to find other ways to tackle debt reduction after the U.S. Supreme Court in June blocked his sweeping plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt. .
In March, the campaign of former President Donald Trump, Biden's Republican opponent for the White House, criticized student loan cancellation as a bailout package that came “without any action by Congress.”
The issue remains high on the agenda among young voters, many of whom are concerned about Biden's foreign policy regarding the war in Gaza and criticize him for failing to achieve even greater debt relief. .
Republicans have criticized Biden's student loan forgiveness approach as an overreach that unfairly benefits college-educated borrowers while other borrowers are denied such relief.
According to the Brookings Institution think tank, about half of all federal student loan debt is held by people with graduate degrees. According to the Department of Education's August 2023 report, graduate students received the highest percentage of federal student loan disbursements in 2021-2022, at 47%; It was only 21%.