Biden announces final round of student loan forgiveness, bringing aid total to nearly $189 billion
The Biden administration announced on Thursday its final round of student loan forgiveness, clearing over $600 million in the debt for thousands of borrowers
The Biden administration announced on Thursday what it described as its final round of student loan forgiveness, clearing over $600 million in debt for thousands of borrowers.
The relief will go to 4,550 borrowers entitled to debt cancellation through the Income-Based Repayment plan, as well as 4,100 former students of DeVry University. The U.S. Department of Education cleared the debts of the latter group of borrowers based upon Department findings announced in February 2022 that the for-profit chain "made widespread substantial misrepresentations about its job placement rates."
DeVry University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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President Joe Biden is set to leave office having forgiven $188.8 billion in student debt for 5.3 million borrowers.
The announcement in the final days of Biden's term mark "the end of an era," said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
"President Biden forgave and discharged more student loans than any previous president," Kantrowitz said.
In 2023, the Supreme Court blocked Biden's plan to deliver wide-scale student loan forgiveness for tens of millions of borrowers.
But the Biden administration still managed to wipe away a large share of the country's outstanding student debt by improving the Education Department's existing debt relief programs.
"Four years ago, President Biden made a promise to fix a broken student loan system," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement.
"We rolled up our sleeves and, together, we fixed existing programs that had failed to deliver the relief they promised, took bold action on behalf of borrowers who had been cheated by their institutions, and brought financial breathing room to hardworking Americans."
Borrower IDR repayment counts adjusted
The U.S. Department of Education also announced on Thursday that it had completed its payment count adjustment for the many borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. IDR plans lead to loan forgiveness after a certain period, typically 20 or 25 years.
However, consumer advocates and borrowers had long complained that loan servicers were not properly keeping track of borrowers' timeline to that relief. The Biden administration worked to fix this.
Borrowers should now be able to see an accurate payment count by logging into their accounts on Studentaid.gov, the Education Department said.
This story originally appeared on: CNBC - Author:Annie Nova
