Biden to announce $9 billion more in student debt relief

[October 04, 2023]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden plans to announce on Wednesday that his administration has approved an additional $9 billion in student debt relief for 125,000 borrowers, the White House said. 

Biden has said he will pursue new measures to provide student loan relief to Americans after the Supreme Court blocked his plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.

U.S. President Joe Biden makes a statement about the stopgap government funding bill passed by the U.S. House and Senate to avert a government shutdown at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 1, 2023. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash/File Photo

The president's announcement, planned for 1 p.m. EDT at the White House, will bring the total approved debt cancellation by the Biden administration to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million Americans, the White House said.

According to a White House fact sheet, the new measures include:

- $5.2 billion in additional debt relief for 53,000 borrowers under Public Service Loan Forgiveness

programs

- nearly $2.8 billion in new debt relief for nearly 51,000 borrowers through fixes to "income-driven repayment,"

which the White House says are borrowers who made 20 years or more of payments "but never got the relief they were entitled to."

- And $1.2 billion for nearly 22,000 borrowers who have a disability who have been identified and approved for discharge through a data match with the Social Security Administration.

(Reporting By Steve Holland. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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