Biden cancels more student loans as term winds down

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday promised to cancel more student loans as he begins his last week in the Oval Office. With the new cancellations, the administration will have provided at least some student loan debt relief to a total of more than 5 million borrowers, the White House said.

Who are these new cancellations affecting? The Biden administration said the new loan cancellations would provide relief to roughly 85,000 borrowers who attended schools that cheated and defrauded their students. It would also provide relief to roughly 61,000 borrowers with permanent disabilities. Additionally, the cancellations would affect roughly 6,100 public service workers.

Monday’s cancellations add to the total number of borrowers in those categories who have received student loan relief from the administration. Roughly 1.7 million total borrowers whose schools defrauded them have received loan cancellations from the administration, the White House said. The administration has also provided roughly 1 million public service workers and 633,000 borrowers with disabilities with similar relief. Biden administration officials have provided roughly 1.4 million borrowers who have been in student loan repayment plans for decades with at least some relief.

Dig deeper: Read Travis K. Kircher’s Christmas Day report in The Sift about how the U.S. Department of Education nixed a Biden administration plan to cancel some student loans.