Biden has approved $175 billion in student loan forgiveness for nearly 5 million people

With less than three weeks before the November election, the Biden-Harris administration is reminding voters how it has delivered a historic amount of student debt relief even as Republicans have challenged several of its efforts in court and balked at the costs.

With less than three weeks before the November election, the Biden-Harris administration is reminding voters how it has delivered a historic amount of student debt relief even as Republicans have challenged several of its efforts in court and balked at the costs. Another round of forgiveness was announced Thursday, bringing the total amount of student loan cancellation to more than $175 billion for nearly 5 million people since President Joe Biden took office. That’s roughly equal to 11% of all outstanding federal student loan debt. More than 1 million of these student loan borrowers received debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which promises loan forgiveness to public-sector workers – like teachers and nurses – after they’ve made 10 years of qualifying payments. The PSLF program has been in place for more than 15 years but had been riddled with administrative problems. “For too long, the government failed to live up to its commitments, and only 7,000 people had ever received forgiveness under Public Service Loan Forgiveness before Vice President (Kamala) Harris and I took office,” Biden said in a statement. “We vowed to fix that,” he added.