President Joe Biden on Friday wiped out $4.9 billion in debt for 74,000 student borrowers — a strategic move aimed at propelling young and minority voters for his reelection.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness programme and income-driven repayment options for long-term borrowers are the focus of the assistance. It is mostly the consequence of modifications to the programmes adopted by the Education Department, which were partly spurred by an unbiased watchdog report, according to USA Today.
It is another instance of the president praising himself for the more focused debt forgiveness he was able to secure despite the Supreme Court’s criticism of his initial relief plan last summer. It essentially reflects other relief he has granted in recent months.
“I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams,” Biden said in a statement about the relief.
Biden waived $1.7 billion in relief for 29,700 borrowers who were enrolled on income-driven repayment plans by reevaluating their repayment schedules. After the change, those who had been making loan payments for more than 20 years were immediately eligible for full forgiveness.
43,900 borrowers who signed up for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a repayment programme for public employees, received the remaining $3.2 billion. The federal government shortened the repayment schedules for many of those borrowers by reevaluating their payments.
