President Biden announced Thursday that $5.8 billion in student loans would be “canceled” for 78,000 public-sector borrowers, increasing his administration’s total student debt write-off to $143.6 billion.
Last year, Biden promised to investigate other ways to address debt relief after the Supreme Court ruled in June that his broader plan to erase $430 billion in student loan debt was unconstitutional.
Republicans have frequently challenged student debt cancellation programs, arguing that the loans will be shifted to taxpayers, who will ultimately bear the cost.
The new idea comes as Biden pursues re-election in November, and the national debt has already surpassed $34.5 trillion.
By comparison, just four decades ago, the national debt was roughly $907 billion.
Thursday’s announcement will see public service employees such as teachers, nurses, and firefighters have their debts forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), an initiative created in 2007 and signed into law by President George W. Bush to forgive student debt for Americans who work in public service.
As of June 2023, about 43.4 million U.S. student loan recipients had $1.63 trillion in outstanding loans, according to the Federal Student Aid website.
Higher education debt has tripled since the 2008 financial crisis.
