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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration announced Wednesday that an additional $9 billion in student debt relief has been approved for 125,000 Americans as repayments began again this month following a three-year pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new relief brings the total approved debt cancellation by the Biden Administration to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million Americans.

“Today’s announcement builds on everything our administration has already done to protect students from unaffordable debt, make repayment more affordable and ensure that investments in higher education pay off for students and working families,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a Department of Education press release.

Of the $9 billion, $5.2 billion will go to 53,000 borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, $2.8 billion will go to 51,000 borrowers through income-driven repayment plans and $1.2 billion will go to 22,000 borrowers with permanent disabilities.

The additional funds are part of an alternate path for debt relief after a June Supreme Court decision blocked Biden’s original plan to cancel $430 billion of student debt. The three-part plan would have benefitted up to 43 million American borrowers, according to a White House release.

Biden, who is trying to fulfill his campaign promises on debt relief as he runs for reelection in 2024, has been addressing the rising debt under the Higher Education Act through various approaches. He has utilized the new Saving on a Valuable Education plan announced in August, the amount of Pell Grants have increased under his administration and Biden also introduced new rules to protect borrowers from career programs that result in unaffordable debts or insufficient earnings, according to the press release.

Approximately 49% of graduating students at SU have taken out some kind of loan, according to U.S. News & World Report’s profile of the university. At SU, the median federal loan debt among borrowers who completed their undergraduate degree is $26,000.

The $9 billion of added relief only assists a small percentage of student loan borrowers, as approximately 43 million Americans still have over a combined $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.

SU announced in May a roughly 5% tuition increase for the 2023-24 academic year. The tuition is now $61,310 a year for full-time undergraduate students.

Published on October 4, 2023 at 11:14 pm

Contact Samantha: saolande@syr.edu