The US government has forgiven the student loans of over 150,000 people, dismissing away a huge debt of $9 billion. This means lots of students don’t have to worry about paying back their loans anymore.
According to the media report issued by Department of Education, the total of $127 billion debt has been cancelled.
Regarding the cancellation of debt for this number of borrowers, US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stated that millions of eligible borrowers will have access to student debt relief because of President Biden and his administration.
The administration has granted approval for approximately $2.8 billion to nearly 51,000 borrowers through reforms to income-driven repayment plans. Moreover, $5.2 billion to 53,000 borrowers will be granted through Public Service Loan Forgiveness programmes, as part of the $9 billion in student loan forgiveness.
Furthermore, an approval of $1.2 billion has been granted to meet the needs of approximately 22,000 borrowers who have a permanent or total disability.
The move was made to help students who found it hard to pay back their loans. However, now they can start fresh without the heavy burden of debt. Many students and graduates are happy about this.
To date, the administration led by Biden has granted approval for nearly $42 billion to approximately 855,000 student loan borrowers who met the eligibility criteria for loan forgiveness via the income-driven repayment plan. Furthermore, the following has been cancelled as well:
- 715,000 public servants were reimbursed nearly $51 billion via Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programmes.
- $11.7 billion for roughly 513,000 total and permanent disability borrowers.
- In excess of 1.3 million borrowers who were deceived by their institutions received $22.5 billion.
The student loan forgiveness programme, introduced by US President Joe Biden in August 2022, involved the cancellation of $10,000 for borrowers with annual incomes below $125,000 and up to $20,000 for borrowers who received Pell Grants to finance their college education.