President Joe Biden unveiled a new plan Monday to relieve the student loan debt of millions more Americans nearly a year after the Supreme Court struck down previous efforts.
Biden’s administration outlined its latest plan to forgive the student loan debt of more than four million Americans, wipe at least $5,000 in debt for more than 10 million borrowers and fully eliminate accrued interest for 23 million borrowers, according to a White House press release. The Supreme Court previously blocked the Biden administration’s plan in June 2023 to grant student loan forgiveness to nearly 40 million Americans using executive power in a 6-3 decision. (RELATED: Biden Admin’s New Student Loan Plan Will Involve Zero-Dollar Payments For Millions, No Penalties For A Year)
“While Republican elected officials try every which way to block millions of their own constituents from receiving student debt cancellation, President Biden has vowed to use every tool available to cancel student debt for as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible,” the White House said in a press release, likely referring to the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision.
The president is set to travel to Madison, Wisconsin, where he will discuss the plans, the White House said in its press release. In total, the administration says it has relieved four million Americans from at least $146 billion in student debt through a series of executive actions.
As a part of the president’s newest plan, low-and-middle income Americans will have their interest forgiven if enrolled in an “income-driven repayment plan,” the press release states. Several other categories of American borrowers will qualify for forgiveness under the plan, including those who attended a “low-financial-value” institution.
“The Biden administration is lawlessly ignoring the Supreme Court and Congress by launching another massive student loan bailout program. The Supreme Court ruled last year that mass student loan cancellation is unconstitutional, but Biden has made it clear that he won’t respect this decision. He is acting as a King, not a president,” Elaine Parker, president of Job Creators Network Foundation, said in a statement.
Wisdom Cole, NAACP, joins student loan borrowers to demand President Biden use “Plan B” to cancel student debt Immediately at a rally outside of the Supreme Court of the United States on June 30, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We The 45 Million)
Biden announced his Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan in February 2023 and a year later he canceled the student debt of 153,000 Americans for a total of $1.2 billion.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision on the president’s student loan action, Biden announced a new plan in August 2022 to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for non-Pell Grant recipients and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients using the 2003 HEROES Act. The legislation gives the Education Secretary the ability to “waive or modify” provisions of student financial assistance programs during a national emergency to ensure recipients are “not placed in a worse position financially.”
“The Administration’s plan for student debt relief will also include a plan that would cancel student debt for borrowers experiencing hardship in their daily lives that prevents them from fully paying back their loans now or in the future,” the press release stated.
