Biden administration announces additional $7.7 billion in student debt relief

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced the cancellation of an additional $7.7 billion in student loans for 160,000 Americans in its ongoing efforts to relieve soaring college debt.

As the November election looms, the administration has been eager to highlight progress in its debt cancellation programs, making announcements such as this one nearly once a month. President Joe Biden has faced blowback from Republicans who accuse the administration of transferring the burden to taxpayers and undermining the Supreme Court, which blocked the White House’s student loan forgiveness plan last year.

In April, the administration announced another round of cancellations, totaling $7.4 billion for 277,000 borrowers and declared a new group of student debt relief proposals that could go into effect this fall. Wednesday’s addition brings the total number of Americans who have had loans canceled to 4.75 million, relieving an average of over $35,000, the White House said.

Borrowers affected by the administration’s newest cancellation were approved through the Biden administration’s SAVE Plan, other income-driven repayment programs or Public Student Loan Forgiveness for qualifying public service workers.

“From day one of my Administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” the president said in a statement. “I will never stop working to cancel student debt – no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us.”

Of the borrowers affected by Wednesday’s announcement, 66,900 borrowers — who saw $5.2 billion forgiven — qualified through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, bringing the total amount forgiven for borrowers enrolled in the program that aids teachers, nurses and other public service workers to $68 billion.

The more than 54,000 borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan who took out smaller loans for graduate studies received $613 million in relief. And an additional 39,200 borrowers who are enrolled in income-driven repayment programs had $1.9 billion relieved.

In recent months, the Biden administration has been working on a set of new proposals, based on a different legal authority, to deliver relief to certain groups of borrowers.

For example, those whose student loan balances are bigger than what they initially borrowed could see their accumulated interest wiped away.

These proposals have yet to be finalized, but administration officials have said that some could take effect as soon as this fall.

CNN’s Donald Judd contributed to this report.

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