The Department of Education announced Monday that it has canceled student loans for more than 150,000 borrowers, bringing the number of Americans who have had their loans forgiven under President Biden to more than 5 million.
The Biden administration has reached a milestone, even though many of its ambitious plans to overhaul the nation's student loan management system have suffered setbacks over the past two years. That forced the administration to process relief applications slowly but steadily through established channels set up by Congress.
The latest cancellation was likely the administration's last relief measure. The targets included borrowers who had worked in the civil service for at least 10 years, students who applied after being deceived or misled by their schools, and some students with disabilities.
With Monday's approval and 27 previous approvals, the Biden administration has canceled more than $183 billion in outstanding student loans.
“From day one in office, I promised to ensure higher education was a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and we have canceled more student loan debt than any other administration in history. I'm proud of that,” Biden said in a statement.
Mr. Biden will next week push back on his boldest ambitions for student loan reform, as a flurry of legal challenges by Republican attorneys general chip away at a plan that once envisioned more than 40 million student loan forgiveness. Many end up leaving office frustrated.
After an initial strategy to cancel debt through emergency powers related to the COVID-19 pandemic was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2023, the administration implemented other measures, such as forgiving interest on loans that had accumulated over decades. Tried various strategies.
Biden also sought to significantly reduce the monthly payments that borrowers make on their loans with a generous new repayment plan known as SAVE. The plan also made borrowers eligible for full forgiveness after making repayments for a certain period of time.
But opposition to these tactics has grown as well, leading to repeated setbacks from legal challenges brought by Republican states and a federal judge shutting down most of the administration's programs even as borrowers flock to them.
Officials said in a call with reporters Monday that the programs used to approve recent cancellations, such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and Borrower Payment Defense, will continue to be available to applicants to the incoming administration. The outlook is that But it was never clear whether the Department of Education would continue to administer these programs under the Trump administration.
Both the America First Institute, chaired by President-elect Donald J. Trump and his nominee for education secretary, Linda McMahon, have sharply criticized the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness policy.
Lawmakers would also have to pass legislation to change or eliminate the programs in question, but the Education Department's implementation of them may be limited or prioritized, as was the case under Trump's first Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos. It may be lowered.
In recent months, officials have instead looked to celebrate the more limited progress they've made by making the most of programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Since the program was enacted in 2007, bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of coordination have made it nearly impossible for borrowers to survive. When Biden took office, only about 7,000 people had successfully applied for clemency under the law.
“The system was broken,” Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona told reporters Monday. “And when these borrowers asked for help, the previous administration showed little interest in solving the problem.”
