Biden Cancels $4.5 Billion in Student Loans for 60,000 Public Workers

In a sweeping move just weeks before the 2024 presidential election, President Joe Biden’s administration announced the cancellation of $4.5 billion in student loans for more than 60,000 public service workers. The announcement, made Thursday, brings the total number of public service workers benefiting from loan forgiveness under Biden to over one million. This latest round of debt relief arrives as part of the administration’s ongoing effort to fix the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, a system that had been plagued by inefficiency and bureaucratic barriers for years.

The student loan forgiveness program targets teachers, firefighters, nurses, social workers, and other public service employees who have been making payments on their loans for over a decade. These individuals, after years of fulfilling their professional duties while struggling under the burden of student debt, will now see their loans erased.

The PSLF program was originally intended to reward public service employees by forgiving their loans after they made 120 qualifying monthly payments. However, the program had a notoriously low success rate due to administrative mismanagement, which led to a mere 7,000 workers qualifying for forgiveness before the Biden administration took office. Biden’s team claims to have reformed the program, delivering loan relief to a far greater number of public servants than any previous administration.

Since taking office, Biden has made student loan forgiveness a key component of his domestic agenda. This latest move follows previous cancellations of student debt under the PSLF program, which the administration claims has already provided relief to over one million public service workers. The total debt forgiven under this initiative is estimated to exceed $175 billion.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona praised the administration’s reforms, noting how Biden’s commitment to fixing the PSLF program has made a substantial difference for public workers.

“Before President Biden and Vice President Harris entered the White House, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was so riddled by dysfunction that just 7,000 Americans ever qualified,” said Cardona. “Today, I’m tremendously proud that over one million teachers, nurses, social workers, veterans, and other public servants have received lifechanging loan forgiveness.”

This latest round of loan cancellations comes at a crucial time for Biden, with just 18 days to go before the 2024 presidential election. Critics have pointed out the timing, suggesting that the announcement is politically motivated, designed to energize Biden’s base and attract support from public service workers and younger voters.

However, this particular round of loan forgiveness is not expected to face legal challenges. Unlike other attempts by the Biden administration to cancel student debt—such as broader efforts targeting all borrowers, which were struck down by courts—this program operates under existing statutory authority, making it far less vulnerable to judicial scrutiny. The PSLF program, originally passed by Congress in 2007, has a legal foundation that the administration has used to cancel the loans of those who meet the qualifications.

In contrast, earlier this year, the Supreme Court blocked a broader student debt forgiveness plan that would have erased up to $20,000 in debt for millions of Americans, ruling that the administration had overstepped its authority. This time around, the focus on public service workers places the program on more secure legal footing.

Biden’s aggressive approach to student loan forgiveness has been one of the most polarizing aspects of his presidency. While many Democrats and progressive groups have lauded the administration’s actions, conservatives and Republicans have expressed outrage. Critics argue that student loan forgiveness is an unfair advantage for college-educated borrowers while leaving others—such as those who did not attend college or have already paid off their loans—without comparable benefits.

Many Republican lawmakers have also framed the forgiveness programs as an overreach of executive authority, accusing Biden of using taxpayer money to curry favor with key voter demographics. They argue that this form of debt cancellation is a short-term fix that does nothing to address the root causes of the student debt crisis, such as rising tuition costs and predatory lending practices.

The Republican criticism has been particularly sharp in response to the Biden administration’s use of taxpayer funds for debt cancellation. They claim that these policies favor a select group of individuals, largely those who have obtained higher education degrees, while ignoring the needs of Americans who opted for trade schools, military service, or other paths that did not involve accumulating student debt.

This latest cancellation follows other significant efforts by the Biden administration to ease the burden of student loans. In May 2024, the White House announced that 160,000 Americans would see their student debt canceled, wiping out $7.7 billion in student loan obligations. A few months earlier, Biden’s administration had canceled the debt of over 270,000 borrowers under a separate initiative.

One of the most significant measures the administration introduced was the SAVE Plan (Saving on a Valuable Education), which reduces monthly payments and extends loan terms for many borrowers. It also provides forgiveness for those who have made payments for 20 or 25 years, depending on their loan type.

While Republicans continue to criticize these policies as unfair and financially reckless, many public service workers who benefit from the loan forgiveness will likely view this latest decision as a lifeline. As the political landscape heats up ahead of the November vote, Biden’s student loan forgiveness efforts remain a central and controversial topic in the national conversation.