Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is continuing to usher in new student debt relief initiatives that positively impact some, though not all, borrowers.
On Friday, the ED announced that Biden’s expansion of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, dubbed the Limited PSLF Waiver, had yielded positive results for eligible borrowers.
Notably, this expansion allowed people to more easily access the beneficial initiative, which cancels out borrowers’ student-loan debt if they agree to work at select nonprofit or governmental organizations for at least 10 years.
Fixing PSLF has been a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration since day one. With the changes being made, we are delivering on average $60K of relief per borrower.
I encourage every public service worker to apply for the PSLF waiver today: https://t.co/2L5XVB9HoT
— Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) June 16, 2022
Ushered in October, the Temporary PSLF Waiver program allowed for about 145,000 people to collectively receive about $8B in student loan forgiveness so far, according to Business Insider.
However, with the expansion set to expire on Oct. 31, 2022, all eyes are on Biden to see if he’ll extend it and allow more borrowers to access the program’s benefits.
The Biden admin on Friday announced that it has approved over $8 billion in student loan forgiveness for 145,000 borrowers under the Limited PSLF Waiver. But the initiative is set to end in just a few months. https://t.co/0DTWuOsQS8
— Adam S. Minsky (@AdamSMinsky) June 24, 2022
The Temporary PSLF Waiver program’s successes comes right after the ED agreed to cancel approximately $6B in debt for about 200,000 students allegedly defrauded by their institutions, including schools like DeVry University and the University of Phoenix.
This situation is related to the 2019 Sweet v. Cordona lawsuit, which addressed the subject of “predatory student lending” and ousted the institutions for seemingly misleading student borrowers.
“We are pleased to have worked with plaintiffs to reach an agreement that will deliver billions of dollars of automatic relief to approximately 200,000 borrowers and that we believe will resolve plaintiffs’ claims in a manner that is fair and equitable for all parties,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said of the initiative.
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Additionally, as Blavity previously reported, the Biden Administration recently offered game-changing relief to students who attended institutions affiliated with Corinthian Colleges — a now-dissolved, for-profit education system that was investigated for fraud.
The Biden admin is forgiving all outstanding loans held by students who attended Corinthian Colleges, which — at $5.8 billion — amounts to the largest single action of debt cancellation ever by the federal government.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 2, 2022
These selective relief initiatives come amid calls for Biden to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt for all borrowers. With the current pause on federal student loan payments and interest set to expire on Aug. 31, it’s widely expected that a decision will be announced in the near future.
