WASHINGTON —
A student loan forgiveness program for public workers has eliminated debt for more than 1 million Americans, up from just 7,000 who were approved before President Joe Biden‘s administration updated the initiative two years ago.
Biden announced the news on Thursday, ensuring that his government is thus reestablishing a promise to the country’s teachers, firefighters, nurses and other workers. He celebrated what was achieved despite the fact that the general program remains paralyzed by the courts after legal appeals presented by states governed by the Republican Party.
“For too long, the government has failed to live up to its commitments,” Biden said in a statement. “We were committed to fixing it, and thanks to our government’s actions, more than one million utility workers have now received the help they are entitled to by law.”
In total, the federal government indicated that it has canceled $175 billion in debts of 5 million beneficiaries who used various current programs. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program accounts for most of that figure, while others have managed to pay off their debt through income-based repayment plans and through a 1994 law that offers aid to students who were deceived by their loans. schools.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) was created in 2007 with the promise to college graduates that the remainder of their federal student loans would be forgiven after 10 years of working for the government. or in non-profit organizations. But as of 2017, the vast majority of applicants were rejected due to complicated and obscure eligibility rules.
A 2018 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 99% of applications were rejected, often because they were not on the correct loan repayment plan or because their Payments had been temporarily suspended through deferrals or forbearance, periods that were not counted towards the 10 years of public service.
The GAO blamed the Department of Education for failing to develop clearer standards.
The program was the subject of political and legal disputes, with Democrats in Congress asking the administration of former President Donald Trump to relax the rules and maintain the essence of the program. Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education at the time, responded that she followed the measures approved by Congress to the letter.
The federal government emphasized that the program was “broken” and in 2021 offered a temporary waiver that recognized borrowers’ previous periods of deferment or forbearance, among other changes. A year later, the Department of Education updated the rules to expand eligibility more permanently.
Since then, a large number of borrowers approaching their decade in public service have had their debt cancellation requests accepted. On Thursday, another 60,000 people reached that mark, bringing the total beneficiaries to more than one million. When Biden arrived at the White House, just 7,000 people had received aid in the previous four years.
Republican lawmakers lashed out at Biden for working to forgive loans instead of reducing college costs.
“The Biden-Harris administration is bypassing Congress to force college graduates and high-income borrowers into a program they were never eligible for and forcing American workers to pay for it in the process,” the representative said. Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee.
In total, the program has eliminated 74 billion in loans for public workers.
“I want to send the message to college students across America that pursuing a career in public service is not only a noble calling, but also a reliable path to becoming debt-free within a decade,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, in a statement.
The achievement was celebrated by supporters of student loan cancellation, including the nonprofit Young Invincibles.
“This program is critical to bringing new workers into important public service roles and rewarding their contributions,” said Kristin McGuire, the group’s CEO. “After years of very little condemnation through PSLF, reaching 1 million debt-free lenders is a huge achievement.”
After its plans for student loan relief faced legal challenges, the Biden administration has increasingly focused its attention on record numbers of loan cancellations through existing programs.
Biden included widespread loan forgiveness in his campaign, but the Supreme Court last year blocked his proposal to eliminate up to $20,000 for 40 million Americans. The president ordered the Department of Education to submit the same proposal with a different legal justification, but a judge in Missouri temporarily halted the plan after several Republican-majority states filed a challenge.
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