Biden announces additional $1.2 billion in student debt relief for 35,000 public-sector workers

President Joe Biden announced another round of student loan debt forgiveness Thursday, totaling $1.2 billion for 35,000 public-sector workers like teachers, nurses and firefighters.

President Joe Biden announced another round of student loan debt forgiveness Thursday, totaling $1.2 billion for 35,000 public-sector workers including teachers, nurses and firefighters. The borrowers qualify for the debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which was created nearly two decades ago and expanded by the Biden administration’s efforts to make it easier to qualify. The administration is eager to show how it has canceled more federal student loan debt than any prior administration – now totaling more than $168 billion for nearly 4.8 million Americans – despite its signature, one-time student loan forgiveness program getting knocked down by the Supreme Court last year. Thursday’s announcement comes as the Biden administration is fighting two legal challenges -- filed by several Republican-led states – to a separate student loan repayment plan that it launched last year, known as SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education). The plan offers the most generous repayment terms for low-income Americans by reducing their monthly payments and creating a faster path to debt relief. The Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether to block part of the SAVE plan while the matter is fully litigated. “From day one of my administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity. I will never stop working to make higher education affordable – no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us,” Biden said in a statement.