President Joe Biden announced even more student loan forgiveness on Thursday, which will wipe out the education debt of 78,000 state employees.
The nearly $6 billion in student loans apply to teachers, nurses and firefighters who, due to past failures with the system, have not received the forgiveness they were promised for going into public service.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) was created in 2007 and aimed to forgive student debt for Americans who had gotten public sector jobs — but most never received the promised relief.
Biden pledged last year to find alternative ways to tackle debt relief after a Supreme Court ruling in June blocked his sweeping plan to cancel $430 billion in student debt.
President Joe Biden announced nearly $6 billion in student loan relief for 78,000 government employees on Thursday
Supporters of student debt forgiveness demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, on June 30, 2023, as the justices rejected Biden’s proposal for sweeping forgiveness
Facing a tough re-election rematch with former President Donald Trump in November, Biden hopes to appeal to younger voters amid concerns about his age and fitness for office.
Thursday’s announcement brings the total of student loan forgiveness under President Biden to $150 billion.
Before Biden took office, only about 7,000 government employees with outstanding student loans received relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. But since he made loan forgiveness a cornerstone of his agenda, 870,000 government employees have had their student loans forgiven, according to the White House.
“These public sector employees have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but due to past administrative failures, they never received the relief they were entitled to under the law,” President Biden said in a statement about the announcement.
“From day one of my administration, I have pledged to fix broken student loans and ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” he continued. “I will not shy away from using every tool at my disposal to bring student debt relief to more Americans and build an economy from the middle up and from the bottom up.”
Since 2008, higher education debt has tripled. And according to June 2023 Federal Student Aid figures, approximately 4.34 million student loan recipients have $1.63 trillion in outstanding debt.
The high interest combined with high payment requirements for these specific federal loans have left younger Americans struggling to purchase homes or make other important investments to help stimulate the economy.
After student loan repayments were suspended for three years during the pandemic, people with outstanding balances found it difficult to resume their monthly payments.
Biden tried to pass broad relief last year that would give most borrowers between $10,000 and $20,000 forgiveness on their student loans.
But the panel of Supreme Court justices, with a conservative majority of six to three, rejected the proposal.
For years, Democrats have pushed for government-level forgiveness for student loan borrowers. Republicans largely oppose the effort, arguing that taxpayers who have not taken out such loans or have already paid off theirs should not be responsible for contributing to the forgiveness.