The federal government announced on Friday that it had approved an additional $7.4 billion in student loan debt relief for nearly 300,000 borrowers, many of whom were signed up for the administration’s new income-driven repayment program.
The administration touted that this latest round of relief raised the total loan forgiveness to $153 billion, for more than 4 million borrowers across the country. Nearly 10% of all federal student loans outstanding has been approved for some form of relief under the Biden administration, according to the Department of Education.
Borrowers who signed up for the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan are the ones receiving the latest round of forgiveness. Under the plan, borrowers can receive relief if they make payments on their loans for 10 years and originally borrowed $12,000 or less for college. Borrowing more lengthens the duration of payments needed to reach the point of loan forgiveness.
This most recent round of forgiveness is broken down into the following categories:
- $3.6 billion for 206,800 borrowers through SAVE.
- $3.5 billion for 65,800 borrowers through administrative adjustments to income-driven repayment plans.
- $300 million for 4,600 borrowers through fixes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
“Today we are helping 277,000 borrowers who have been making payments on their student loans for at least a decade,” said U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal, in a statement. “They have paid what they can afford, and they have earned loan forgiveness for the balance of their loan.”
The announcement bookended the week for the Biden administration, which started last week by announcing a broader student loan debt relief plan that could impact tens of millions of borrowers.
