Biden announces MORE Americans could get their student loans forgiven: Here’s who’s eligible as the president moves to add to the $136.6 billion debt he’s already wiped out
- The draft proposal outlines who would be eligible due to financial difficulties
- Proposal could provide relief to ‘tens of millions of student loan borrowers’
- The Biden administration is going through a regulatory process to cancel student loan debt after the Supreme Court rejected the original plan
Even more Americans could see their student loans forgiven after the Biden administration announced how those struggling with their payments could get rid of their debt.
The proposal unveiled Thursday outlines multiple factors the Secretary of Education can consider to determine whether borrowers face the kind of hardships that would bring them relief.
The Biden administration has already forgiven $136.6 billion in student debt for 3.7 million borrowers, but the Supreme Court rejected President Biden’s original plan to forgive these $400 billion in debt last June.
Critics have accused Biden of abusing his authority and punishing taxpayers who do not have a college education.
Some hardship factors include the borrower’s total student loan balance and required payments relative to family income, and whether a borrower faces high financial burdens for essential expenses such as health care or child care.
Other considerations include whether the borrower has received a Pell Grant, age, disability, and other indicators identified by the Secretary.
The proposal would provide automatic relief to borrowers who are highly likely to default within two years. These borrowers would be identified through a method developed by the Department of Education using information available to the Secretary.
It would also allow the Secretary of Education to provide additional relief to struggling borrowers through an application process.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stands next to President Biden in the White House. The new draft proposal includes several factors that the Secretary may consider to determine whether borrowers face financial hardships that would qualify them for student loan relief.
Protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court as the court blocked President Biden’s previous student loan relief plan
“The ideas we outline today will allow us to help struggling borrowers who are experiencing hardship in their lives, and they are part of President Biden’s overall plan to give breathing room to as many student loan borrowers as possible.” of Education. James Kvaal said in a statement.
“It is an important part of the Biden-Harris administration’s permanent solutions to the problem of unaffordable loans,” he added.
The draft proposal was released by the Ministry of Education on Thursday, ahead of further regulatory discussions on February 22 and 23.
“The expanded definition of hardship proposed today will boost debt relief for anyone who had to borrow for college and is still struggling to stay afloat,” said Persis Yu, deputy director of the Student Borrower Protection Center in response to the draft proposal. ‘
“The new hardship rule is a strong step in the right direction, creating an important safety valve to forgive debts if things don’t go according to plan, and giving millions of people a second chance at the economic opportunities they were promised,” Yu said.
This is the latest in an ongoing effort by the Biden administration that has slowly reduced the more than $1.74 trillion in student loans in the United States.
Protesters calling for student loan forgiveness outside the Supreme Court on June 30, 2023, as the conservative court struck down Biden’s student loan relief plan
Last summer, the government launched the SAVE program, an income-driven repayment plan that calculates payments based on a borrower’s income and family size, rather than his/her loan balance. It forgives remaining balances after a certain number of years.
According to the government, the SAVE plan will cut many borrowers’ monthly payments to zero and save other borrowers about $1,000 a year.
The administration has also taken several other steps to cancel student loan debt since the president took office in 2021.
To date, the government has forgiven a total of $136.6 billion in student loans for more than 3.7 million borrowers.
It included $45.7 billion for more than $930,500 borrowers through changes to income-driven repayment plans (IDR), which brought thousands of borrowers closer to having their loans forgiven, as well as $56.7 billion for more than 793,000 borrowers who benefited from changes to the public service loan. Forgiveness Program (PSLF).
The government has also forgiven billions in debt for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities and for those defrauded by their schools.