Biden cancels student loans for another 150,000 people: See who benefits
FILE-President Joe Biden speaks during an event about student loan debt relief in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Department of Education on Monday canceled loans for another 150,000 borrowers.
President Joe Biden has now overseen the cancellation of student loans for more than 5 million borrowers, which is more than any other president in U.S. history.
The Biden administration tells the Associated Press that it has waived $183.6 billion in student loans.
Who benefits from these student loan cancellations?
Canceled loans for the 150,000 borrowers include nearly 85,000 borrowers who attended schools that "cheated and defrauded" their students, 61,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and 6,100 public service workers, according to a White House.gov release.
According to the Associated Press, this new round of financial relief mostly comes through a program known as borrower defense, which allows students to get their loans canceled if they're cheated or misled by their colleges.
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"My Administration has taken historic action to reduce the burden of student debt, hold bad actors accountable, and fight on behalf of students across the country," Biden said in a written statement per a White House release.
Biden relaxes rules for debt forgiveness
A smaller share of the relief came through a program for borrowers with disabilities and through Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which was created in 2007 and offers to erase all remaining debt for borrowers in a government or nonprofit job who make 10 years of monthly payments.
Before Biden took office, the student loan programs were criticized by some who said complex rules made it difficult for borrowers to get relief. According to the Associated Press, Biden administration eased some of the rules using its regulatory power, a maneuver that expanded eligibility without going through Congress.
Will Trump make changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness?
President Joe Biden's student loan borrower changes could be targeted for a rollback once President-elect Donald Trump is set to begin a second term in the White House But it's unclear how far the Trump administration will go to tighten the cancellation process.
Trump proposed eliminating Public Service Loan Forgiveness during his first term in office, but Congress rejected the idea.
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Project 2025, a blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation for a second Trump term, proposes ending PSLF, and narrowing borrower defense and making repayment plans less generous than current ones.
What they're saying:
Republicans have suggested that reversing Biden's changes to student loan forgiveness will be a priority. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., issued a report criticizing the president’s expansion of borrower defense, saying he "tried to stretch every possible law" to fulfill his campaign promises. When Trump takes office, Foxx wrote, "the jig will finally be up."
Why you should care:
Large numbers of borrowers made years of payments only to learn they were in an ineligible repayment plan.
According to the Associated Press, some borrowers were improperly put into forbearance — a pause on payments — by their loan servicers. Those periods didn't end up counting toward the 10 years of payments needed for cancellation.