As President Joe Biden moves closer to canceling some student loan debt, the top federal student loan official said any forgiveness by the president would be additive to other reforms taking place, YahooFinance.com reported. "That's a decision that the White House will make," Federal Student Aid (FSA) Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray said. The Biden-era Education Department (ED) has taken several actions — aside from extending the payment pause multiple times — to refine the unwieldy student loan system and erase debt. These include overhauling the troubled Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for student loan borrowers in public service; erasing debt held by some students who were defrauded by a predatory for-profit college; discharging debt of totally and permanently disabled borrowers; and increasing scrutiny of student loan servicers. One estimate is that 700,000 borrowers have seen more than $17 billion wiped away through various actions. An estimated 37 million borrowers haven't had to make payments on their loans during the payment pause, and no new interest has accrued. The New York Fed recently found the payment pause has led to "an estimated $195 billion worth of waived payments through April 2022."
