4.8M borrowers — including 1M in public service — have had student debt forgiven, Biden admin says
The Biden administration announced it has provided student debt relief to more than 1 million borrowers who work in public service and 4.8 million borrowers in total.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced a milestone Thursday in its effort to cancel Americans' student debt: It has provided relief to more than 1 million borrowers who work in public service.
Through the Education Department's Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, the administration approved about $4.5 million in additional student loan relief for more than 60,000 borrowers, bringing the total relief through that program to $74 million for more than 1 million people.
That brings the total amount of student debt relief under the administration to $175 billion for more than 4.8 million borrowers over the nearly four years President Joe Biden has been in office, the department said.
The Education Department said that before Biden's presidency, only 7,000 public servants had ever received student debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The program was previously "riddled by dysfunction," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement, adding that "countless public servants were trapped making payments on debts that should have been forgiven."
Cardona added that "pursuing a career in public service is not only a noble calling but a reliable pathway to becoming debt-free within a decade."
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