The Biden administration announced Friday that it would forgive $39 billion in student loans for 804,000 borrowers, explaining it had pursued certain fixes to existing income-driven-repayment plans.
"For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a written statement.
These income-driven plans set a forgiveness threshold of 20 or 25 years. Borrowers must make payments that qualify over this period — payments that can be as low as $0 based on an individual’s income and family situation.
“By fixing past administrative failures, we are ensuring everyone gets the forgiveness they deserve, just as we have done for public servants, students who were cheated by their colleges, and borrowers with permanent disabilities, including veterans,” said Cardona. “This Administration will not stop fighting to level the playing field in higher education.”
After the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s sweeping plan for at least $10,000 in loan-forgiveness for all borrowers who make less than $125,000, the administration said it would attempt to help borrowers by other means.
Biden announced a new relief program that will be grounded in the Higher Education Act, instead of the HEROES Act, though that faces a likely legal challenge. The president also announced that the administration will seek to ensure no one with an undergraduate loan will spend more than 5 percent of their disposable income to repay their loans. There will also be a temporary on-ramp repayment program over the next year.
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