In the short time that President Biden has been in office, he and his administration have made significant progress in erasing student loan debt—to the tune of nearly $10 billion! Since taking office in January, the Biden administration has cancelled $9 billion in student loan debt for over 563,000 Americans, according to fresh data. According to @TheHill, the US Department of Education recently announced that more than $9 billion in student loan debt has been legally erased, benefiting over 563,000 people.
The large sum was announced during a recent news conference discussing the cancellation of $1.1 billion in debt for 115,000 students who attended ITT Technical Institute, which has since closed permanently. The move comes as President Biden faces mounting pressure to ramp up efforts to cancel even more student loan debt, as the existing moratorium on federal student loan payments is slated to expire soon.
The Biden administration is removing the financial burden of student loan debt for 323,000 people, as their $5.8 billion in student loan debt will be automatically cancelled for those who have severe disabilities, as we previously reported earlier this month. Through the Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge scheme, the debt will be discharged.
Underneath the terms of that program, disabled individuals “who are unable to maintain substantial, gainful employment due to a physical or psychological medical impairment” will have their debt wiped away.
