In further defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, the Biden administration on March 21 announced that it would be “forgiving” nearly $6 billion in student loan debt for another 77,700 borrowers, CBS News reported.
The Supreme Court in June 2023 blocked the administration’s student debt forgiveness plan, ruling in a 6-3 decision that federal law did not allow the administration to unilaterally erase nearly half a trillion dollars in student loan debt.
The president said at the time that he would seek student debt relief through other means to get around the Supreme Court’s ruling, which he described as “wrong.”
In a March 21 statement, the White House said the latest round of student debt bailouts would apply to public service employees like teachers, firefighters, social workers, and nurses. The bailout would amount to roughly $77,000 per individual borrower.
The White House said those who qualify for the latest bailout would be notified by email.
Since the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s initial student loan bailout, the administration has relied on existing and new repayment plans to provide bailouts for nearly 4 million borrowers.
The administration also launched a new program to make it easier for public servants to manage their student debt.
The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, launched a month after the Supreme Court’s decision, is an income-based repayment program that links a borrower’s monthly student loan payment to income. Unlike the previous income-driven repayment plan, the SAVE plan lowers the percentage of personal income a borrower must pay for their student loan from 10 percent to only 5 percent.
According to the White House, the latest student debt bailout applies to the 77,700 borrowers currently enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, including public service workers enrolled in the limited PSLF waiver that allowed those who hadn’t previously qualified for a bailout to receive credit for past repayments.
