Biden-Harris Administration Approves Additional $4.28 Billion in Student Debt Relief for Nearly 55,000 Public Service Workers

Latest action brings approved relief to almost $180 billion for 4.9 million borrowers

The Biden-Harris Administration announced today the approval of $4.28 billion in additional student loan relief for 54,900 borrowers across the country who work in public service. This relief—which is the result of significant fixes that the Administration has made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program—brings the total loan forgiveness by the Administration to approximately $180 billion for nearly five million Americans, including $78 billion for 1,062,870 borrowers through PSLF. 

 “Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers. The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people.” 

The PSLF Program provides an incentive for Americans to pursue and remain in careers in education, public health, law enforcement, emergency response, and other critical public service fields by forgiving borrowers’ remaining student loan balance after they have made the required 120 qualifying monthly payments. The relief announced today includes both borrowers who have benefitted from the Administration’s limited PSLF waiver, a temporary opportunity that ended in October 2022, as well as from regulatory improvements made to the program during this Administration. 

In addition to these fixes to PSLF, the Biden-Harris Administration also implemented further improvements to PSLF to make it easier for borrowers to participate in the program. As of July 2024, the PSLF Program is now fully managed by the Department via StudentAid.gov, rather than by a single loan servicer, making it easier for borrowers to track their progress toward forgiveness. 

An Unparalleled Record of Support for Federal Student Loan Borrowers 

Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has been committed to helping borrowers who have struggled with the burden of student loan debt. Over the past four years, the Administration has approved nearly $180 billion in student debt relief for 4.9 million borrowers through various actions, taking historic steps to aid hardworking Americans across the country who have worked to repay their student loans but remained in debt. 

In total, the Biden-Harris Administration has also approved:

• $56.5 billion for more than 1.4 million borrowers through Income-Driven Repayment, including the Saving on a Valuable Education SAVE plan. This includes administrative adjustments to income-driven repayment that brought borrowers closer to forgiveness and addressed longstanding problems due to past inaccuracies and the misuse of forbearance by loan servicers. 
• $28.7 billion for more than 1.6 million borrowers who were cheated by their schools, saw their institutions precipitously close, or are covered by related court settlements. 
• $16.2 billion for almost 572,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability.

In addition to ensuring that student loans are not a barrier to educational and economic opportunity for students and families, the Administration also secured a $900 increase to the maximum Pell Grant—the largest increase in a decade—and finalized new rules to help protect borrowers from career programs that leave graduates with unaffordable debts and insufficient earnings.

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