Biden will forgive $9 billion in student debt for 125,000 Americans: These are the beneficiaries
125,000 student loan borrowers are eligible for debt relief after Presidnet Biden announced another $9 billion in forgiveness.
Three years after the implementation of the student debt moratorium, payments resumed on October 1. However, as part of his presidential campaign, President Biden promised to relieve student debt for millions of borrowers. Since then, the president has been under pressure to keep his word, particularly after the Supreme Court rejected his initial plan to forgive up to $20,000 per loan for borrowers with an annual income under $125,000 a year.
Fortunately, for some, President Biden has unveiled a new plan to forgive $9 billion in student debt for 125,000 eligible borrowers.
Who can claim student debt forgiveness under President Biden’s new plan?
The $9 billion in forgiveness announced by the White House on Wednesday will target very specific populations.
- $5.2 billion for 53,000 borrowers who qualify for public service loan forgivessnes programs who have worked for at least a decade as educators or members of the military.
- $2.8 billion for nearly 51,000 borrowers enrolled in income-based repayment plans. That is, people who have been paying for two decades or more and finally reached the payment threshold for forgiveness.
- $1.2 billion fornearly 22,000 borrowers who have permanent disability and were identified through a comparison of Social Security data.
According to the White House, hundreds of thousands of eligible borrowers have been enrolled in forgiveness programs, such as those for public service workers. Previously, these programs existed, but due to bureaucratic confusion, many could never enroll, even if they qualified to have their debts forgiven. In other words, forgiveness will become a reality for thousands of borrowers who have been paying their loans on time for a decade or more.
Additionally, income-based payments have been expanded to ease the financial burden as millions begin making payments on their debt once again.
With this announcement, the Biden administration has forgiven $127 billion in student debt, with the programs affecting 3.6 million borrowers. All in all, there are around 48 million borrowers who collectively owe nearly $1.77 trillion. The program struck down by the US Supreme Court this summer would have forgiven around $315 billion in debt for around twenty-six million borrowers.