President Biden announced Friday that $7.4 billion in student loan debt would be canceled for roughly 277,000 borrowers through a program that Republican-led states are already challenging in courts.
President Biden announced Friday that $7.4 billion in student loan debt would be canceled for roughly 277,000 borrowers through a program that Republican-led states are already challenging in courts.
It’s the latest in a series of election-year moves to wipe out student debt, an issue with broad appeal to younger voters who are abandoning Mr. Biden in droves.
The majority of borrowers who would receive debt forgiveness in the latest round of cancellations are enrolled in the administration’s SAVE plan or participate in income-driven repayment plans. Others would qualify for loan forgiveness because they have public service jobs such as teachers, nurses and firefighters.
SAVE, which stands for Saving on a Valuable Education, is separate from Mr. Biden’s latest student loan forgiveness proposals that he unveiled Monday to automatically cancel student debt for millions of borrowers.
Since it launched last year, nearly 8 million borrowers have enrolled in SAVE and nearly 153,000 people have seen their debt canceled through their participation, totaling $1.2 billion in debt relief, according to White House data.
The $7.4 billion of new student loan debt cancellation is in addition to the $153 billion Mr.
