Biden forgives another $7.4 billion in student loans. Here’s who qualifies
Published 8:35 am Friday, April 12, 2024
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President Joe Biden is continuing to find ways to cut at student loan debt.
The Biden-Harris Administration announced on Friday, April 12 that another $7.4 billion student loans would be cancelled for around 277,000 borrowers, bringing the total number student loans forgiven by the administration to $153 billion for almost 4.3 million Americans.
In 2022, the administration had originally proposed a student loan forgiveness plan that would have cut up to $20,000 in loans for all borrowers — a plan that would have cost about $400 billion. The plan failed to get past the Supreme Court last year, and the Administration has been finding other ways to cut student loan balances for more Americans.
The new batch of borrowers that will be divided into almost 206,800 borrowers who signed up for Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, another 65,800 borrowers who are on the administrations income-driven repayment plan (IDR), and another nearly 5,000 borrowers who were part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) plan.
For the SAVE plan, the relief of about $3.6 billion will be given to borrowers who had “smaller loans for their postsecondary stories,” according to the announcement. Those who borrowed $12,000 or less and have paid for nearly 10 years will receive relief for their loans. Any $1,000 additional that was borrowed will require another 12 months of payments.
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All borrowers under SAVE will receive forgiveness after either 20 or 25 years, depending on whether they took out loans for graduate school.
For those under IDR, about $3.5 billion will be forgiven for those who have been dealing with forbearance issues with their loan servicers. Those who qualify would have been notified.
The final $300 million will be given to additional fixes for those under the PSLF plan. Over 77,000 borrowers under this plan were forgiven for loans of around $6 billion in late March, and this update is continued adjustment to the borrowers who signed up for the plan that was designed to provide relief for those who took on public service jobs such as teachers and nurses.
Related: Here’s who qualifies for Biden’s student loan debt relief starting next month