July 18, 2024 - NPR
Sequoia Carrillo
Thousands more public servants will soon see their student loan balances reduced or erased, the Biden administration announced on Thursday. The relief is part of the administration’s efforts to overhaul the nation’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF).
“This is relief that will bring real change in [borrowers’] lives, and marks another win for this Administration’s relentless and unapologetic work to fix a broken student loan system,” said U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement.
The Biden administration approved roughly $1.2 billion in student loan relief for about 35,000 borrowers who work in public service, including as firefighters, social workers and teachers. Under PSLF, borrowers in qualifying lines of work can have their remaining balances forgiven on eligible loans after making 120 monthly payments.
As of Thursday’s announcement, the Biden administration had discharged $69.2 billion in debt through PSLF for over 900,000 borrowers.
The administration overhauled the PSLF program in 2022. Prior to Biden’s presidency, only 7,000 people had received debt relief under PSLF.
PSLF is one of many avenues the administration has pursued in its efforts to provide student loan borrowers with debt relief. Those larger efforts have drawn criticism from Republicans for executive overreach and placing an unfair burden on taxpayers.