Biden administration approves $9B in student loan forgiveness for an additional 125K borrowers

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that an additional 125,000 student loan borrowers would receive a portion of $9 billion in additional debt forgiveness.

The relief comes through fixes the administration made to income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and by canceling debt for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, the White House said.

In total, the Biden administration has canceled $127 billion in student debt for 3.6 million Americans.

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President Joe Biden’s administration announced Wednesday an additional $9 billion in student loan forgiveness, affecting nearly 125,000 borrowers. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky/File/Fox News / AP Newsroom)

A press release from the White House said $5.2 billion of the $9 billion was approved to provide relief for 53,000 borrowers under Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs.

Another $2.8 billion in relief was approved for about 51,000 borrowers through fixes to income-driven repayment, or borrowers who made 20 years or more of payments, but never got the relief they “were entitled to.”

The remaining $1.2 billion was approved for nearly 22,000 borrowers who have a total or permanent disability and have been identified and approved for discharge through the Social Security Administration.

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A sign reading “Student Debt” is seen outside the Supreme Court, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib/File/Fox News / AP Newsroom)

The announcement comes months after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Biden’s initial student loan forgiveness plan in June.

The original plan would have canceled up to $10,000 in federal loans per borrower making less than $125,000 a year and up to $20,000 per borrower for those who used the Pell Grant in college. The plan would have eliminated $441 billion in outstanding student debt.

This month, more than 40 million Americans have to resume making monthly payments on their student loans. Payments were paused beginning in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Roughly 44 million Americans hold about $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. (iStock / iStock)

The Biden administration has repeatedly pushed to forgive student loan debt for federal borrowers, in legal battles that have been largely rejected in court. In June, the Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan that would have canceled $10,000 in federal student loan debt for millions of borrowers and up to $20,000 for a special class of borrowers. 

A Biden White House official told Fox News Digital that the president believed college should be a “ticket to the middle class” rather than a burden on families. They added that Biden would announce Wednesday an additional $9 billion in debt relief for 125,000 borrowers through fixes to income-driven repayment (IDR), Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), and by granting automatic relief for borrowers with total and permanent disability.

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“This brings the total approved debt cancellation to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million borrowers so far under the Biden-Harris Administration,” the official said.

 Fox News’ Nora Colomer, Jeffrey Clark and David Ruts contributed to this report.