Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $5 Billion in Additional Student Debt Relief (2024)

The Biden-Harris Administration announced today the approval of an additional $4.8 billion in student loan debt relief for 80,300 borrowers. These discharges stem from fixes made by the U.S. Department of Education to income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

Today's announcement brings the total approved debt cancellation by the Biden-Harris Administration to nearly $132 billion for more than 3.6 million Americans.

“Before President Biden took office, it was virtually impossible for eligible borrowers to access the student debt relief they rightfully earned,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The data released today once again make clear that the Biden-Harris Administration’s relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system are paying off in a big way, with more than 3.6 million borrowers now approved for nearly $132 billion in loan forgiveness. This level of debt relief is unparalleled and we have no intention of slowing down.”

Today’s debt relief approvals are in two categories:

• $2.2 billion for nearly 46,000 borrowers through fixes to IDR that will provide borrowers with an accurate count of progress toward forgiveness and address longstanding concerns with misuse of forbearance. Including today’s numbers, the Biden-Harris Administration has now approved almost $44 billion in IDR relief for nearly 901,000 borrowers.
• $2.6 billion for 34,400 borrowers through PSLF. This includes borrowers who have benefited through the limited PSLF waiver and ongoing regulatory improvements to the programs. This brings total relief through PSLF up to $53.5 billion for almost 750,000 borrowers since October 2021. By contrast, only about 7,000 borrowers had received forgiveness through these programs at the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.

An unparalleled track record of borrower assistance

The Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic steps to reduce the burden of student debt and ensure that student loans are not a barrier to opportunity for students and families. The Administration earlier this year launched the most affordable student loan repayment plan – SAVE – which makes many borrowers' monthly payments as low as $0 and prevents balances from growing because of unpaid interest.

The Administration secured the largest increase to Pell Grants in a decade and finalized new rules to protect borrowers from career programs that leave graduates with unaffordable debts or insufficient earnings. And, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on the Administration's original student debt relief plan, the Administration continues its work to pursue an alternative path to debt relief through negotiated rulemaking under the Higher Education Act.

Beyond the relief under IDR and PSLF, the Biden-Harris Administration has also approved:

• $11.7 billion for almost 513,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability.
• $22.5 billion for more than 1.3 million borrowers who were cheated by their schools, saw their institutions precipitously close, or are covered by related court settlements.

Below is a state-by-state breakdown of the total approvals for IDR and PSLF:

Data as of November-end 2023

The sum of individual values may not equal the total due to rounding and timing.

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Data as of early November 2023

The sum of individual values may not equal the total due to rounding and timing.

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