The Biden administration said Wednesday it would forgive $1.2 billion in student debt for nearly 153,000 borrowers enrolled its new repayment program, called the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan.
The relief will go to borrowers who have been in repayment for a decade or longer, and originally took out $12,000 or less.
Borrowers usually get debt forgiveness under income-driven repayment plans, including SAVE, after 20 or 25 years of payments. But under the SAVE plan, those who borrowed less can get their debt canceled after just a decade.
In January, the Biden administration said it would soon start to forgive the debt of these borrowers who had signed up for its new plan.
“With today’s announcement, we are once again sending a clear message to borrowers who had low balances: if you’ve been paying for a decade, you’ve done your part, and you deserve relief,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
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Eligible borrowers will begin receiving emails from President Joe Biden on Wednesday and do not need to take any further action to receive the relief, the U.S. Department of Education said.
After the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan last June, his administration has explored all of its existing authority to leave people with less education debt.
It has now canceled debt for almost 3.9 million borrowers, totaling $138 billion in relief.
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