President Joe Biden announced Wednesday an additional 125,000 Americans have been approved for $9 billion in student loan debt relief through changes made to some programs and by granting automatic relief for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities.
Federal education officials said they made changes through rulemaking committees last week to the government’s Income-Driven Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness plans that will reduce debt for some borrowers.
The changes to the repayment plans will result in about $2.8 billion in relief for about 51,000 borrowers nationwide who have been in repayment for 20 or more years, federal officials said. About 53,000 borrowers in loan forgiveness programs will receive an estimated $5.2 billion in relief. An estimated 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 will receive debt relief estimated by federal officials at about $1.2 billion.
“For years, millions of eligible borrowers were unable to access the student debt relief they qualified for, but that’s all changed thanks to President Biden and this Administration’s relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
Wednesday’s announcement comes days after student loan payments began or resumed for tens of millions of Americans after a three-year pause to help borrowers through the COVID-19 pandemic. About 15% of Georgians, or 1.6 million people, have federal student loans, though it’s not clear precisely how many will enter repayment. They owe, on average, more than $41,000 in student debt, the third-highest in the nation, behind only Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
U.S. Department of Education officials say since October 2021 that roughly 29,100 Georgia borrowers have received debt discharges through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness and limited waiver programs.
The U.S. Supreme Court in late June struck down the White House’s student loan forgiveness plan that would have wiped up $10,000 in debt for those with an annual income of less than $125,000. Pell Grant recipients would have gotten up to $20,000 in relief. The court’s conservative majority said the White House did not have the authority for the broad loan cancellation program.
White House officials have taken several smaller steps to reduce debt for borrowers.
“My administration is doing everything we can to deliver student debt relief to as many as we can, as fast as we can,” Biden said Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
About the Author
