President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday announced an additional $4.28 billion in student loan relief for nearly 55,000 public workers.
The announcement brings the Biden administration’s total loan forgiveness to “approximately $180 billion for nearly 5 million Americans,” according to a Department of Education fact sheet.
Forgiveness will be provided to those enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which allows debt forgiveness for people in jobs like firefighting, nursing, and teaching after 10 years of continuous payment.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk aboard Marine One at the Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.
Ben Curtis/AP
The Biden administration made fixes to the program that had failed to provide student loan relief to many people due to poor implementations and errors in the program, officials said.
“Public servants approved today for debt forgiveness include teachers, nurses, military personnel, law enforcement officials and other public servants who have dedicated their lives to giving back to their communities and who are earning finally the relief they are entitled to under the law,” Biden said in a statement.
Of the nearly 5 million borrowers who received more than $180 billion in debt relief from the administration, more than 1 million did so through PSLF. The relief provided to these PSLF borrowers is approximately $78 billion, the administration said.
President Joe Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.
Rod Lamkey/AP
“From my first day in office, I promised to make higher education a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” Biden said in a statement.
He added: “Thanks to our actions, millions of people across the country now have the flexibility to start a business, save for retirement and pursue life projects that they had to put aside due to of the student debt burden. »
