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The Education Department's announcement Friday targets teachers,
nurses, service members, law enforcement officials and others
who've reached eligibility through the program, which promises
to erase loans after 10 years of work in government or nonprofit
jobs.
The $4.28 billion in relief is expected to be the final round of
public service loan forgiveness before President Joe Biden
leaves office in January. After failing to deliver his promise
of widespread loan cancellation, Biden has instead focused on
expanding loan relief through programs that were created before
his presidency.
Under Biden, the Education Department loosened the rules for
Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which previously had a 99%
rejection rate amid burdensome rules and widespread confusion
over eligibility requirements.
With the latest round of relief, Biden has now canceled an
unprecedented $180 billion in federal student loans through
existing programs, covering 4.9 million Americans. That includes
$78 billion for roughly 1 million borrowers through PSLF.
“From Day One of my Administration, I promised to make sure that
higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier
to opportunity,” Biden said in a statement. “Because of our
actions, millions of people across the country now have the
breathing room to start businesses, save for retirement, and
pursue life plans they had to put on hold because of the burden
of student loan debt.”
Still, the Democrat has fallen short of his goal to deliver
widespread relief to millions of other Americans. Biden’s first
attempt at mass cancellation was blocked by the Supreme Court,
and his second attempt remains tangled in a legal battle brought
by Republican states.
In October he proposed another rule that would cancel loans for
people facing various kinds of financial hardship, though it's
unlikely to take effect.
Trump hasn't detailed student loan plans for his second term,
but on the campaign trail he called Biden's cancellation plans
illegal and “vile.” Republicans in Congress have slammed Biden
over his cancellation work, saying it unfairly transfers the
burden to taxpayers who didn't go to college or already repaid
their loans.
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