The Biden administration announced that it would cancel $39 billion of student debt owed by more than 804,000 borrowers whose debts have been outstanding for more than 20 years, Politico reported. The Education Department said that it was implementing its plan, announced in April 2022, to compensate borrowers for what it called “historical inaccuracies” and other failures in how the agency and its contracted loan servicers have managed the income-driven repayment programs. The program is separate from President Joe Biden’s sweeping student debt relief program that the Supreme Court struck down last month. But the announcement comes as the Biden administration looks to highlight its alternative pathways for delivering student debt relief in the face of that legal defeat.
Click here for the Department of Education's press release.
