More than 150,000 borrowers who have been in repayment on their student loans for at least 10 years will have their debt cancelled, the Biden administration announced Wednesday.
The debt cancellation is part of the administration’s “unapologetic commitment to deliver as much relief as possible to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told reporters. The president plans to speak about the debt relief in Los Angeles on Wednesday, and borrowers eligible for the relief will receive an email directly from Biden, officials said on a call with reporters. In the email, Biden will reiterate his administration’s efforts on student debt and encourage recipients to “share what this relief means to you.”
Though the Biden administration has touted SAVE as transformative for borrowers and encouraged them to sign up, the government and student-loan servicers struggled to implement the plan in its early weeks. In the months leading up to and following the return to repayment after a more-than-three-year pause, borrowers reported challenges enrolling in SAVE.
In addition, the earliest borrowers can have their debt cancelled under most income-driven repayment plans is after 20 years of payments. By contrast, SAVE allows borrowers who borrowed relatively little to attend college — $12,000 or less — to have the debt wiped away after just 10 years of payments.
As part of those efforts, the Department of Education said last week that it would like to make borrowers experiencing financial hardship as a result of their student loans eligible to have their debt cancelled as part of the broader relief effort. Stakeholders will meet this week to discuss the proposal as part of a process that will help to determine the scope of a new student debt-forgiveness initiative.