WASHINGTON (WXMI) — The White House announced this week that more than 100,000 more Americans were approved for debt relief.
The additional 125,000 Americans approved for $9 billion in relief comes after the U.S. Department of Education fixed income-driven repayment (IDR) plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs.
Plus, the Department of Education is granting automatic relief for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities.
Specifically, the Biden-Harris Administration approved the following:
- $5.2 billion in additional debt relief for 53,000 borrowers under PSLF programs.
- Nearly $2.8 billion in new debt relief for nearly 51,000 borrowers through fixes to IDR plans— These are borrowers who have been in repayment for 20 or more years but never got the relief they were entitled to.
- $1.2 billion for nearly 22,000 borrowers who have a total or permanent disability and have been identified and approved for discharge through a data match with the Social Security Administration.
FOX 17, WXYZ's Grand Rapids sister station, talked with the United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona Thursday.
He touted the administration's move just days after student loan payments resumed following a three-year pause due to the pandemic.
"The president understands that in order for us to be able to compete internationally, in order for us to be dominant in the future against countries like China that are looking to take over in so many different ways, we need to make sure we have better access to higher education and it needs to be affordable," Cardona said.
Thursday’s announcement brings the total of approved debt cancellation to $127 billion for more than 3.5 million Americans.
To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved the following debt cancellation:
- Nearly $42 billion for almost 855,000 borrowers who are eligible for forgiveness through income-driven repayment by fixing historical inaccuracies in the count of payments that qualify for forgiveness.
- Nearly $51 billion for 715,000 public servants through PSLF programs, including the limited PSLF waiver and Temporary Expanded PSLF.
- $11.7 billion for almost 513,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability.
- $22.5 billion for more than 1.3 million borrowers who were cheated by their schools, saw their institutions precipitously close or are covered by court related settlements.
"As long as I'm Secretary of Education, as long as the president is the President of the United States, we're going to fight to make sure we uncover every rock. We have public servants dedicating themselves to our kids, to protect our country, to protect our communities, take care of our sick, and when they're entitled to debt relief, we're going to fight that they get it," Cardona added.
