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The Biden administration announced today that it is forgiving another $9 billion in student loans for borrowers who have been on an income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan, The Hill reported. The $9 billion will forgive the debt of 125,000 borrowers, with 53,000 getting relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, 51,000 through an IDR plan and 22,000 who have a total or permanent disability. Those on the IDR plan have been making payments for more than 20 years but never got the student debt relief they were promised, according to the White House. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program includes those who have been working in a government position or nonprofit for more than ten years. The relief helps only a small portion of student loan borrowers as more than 45 million people still hold $1.75 trillion in student loans, while college prices continue to increase.

The federal government is discharging $37 million in student loans for over 1,200 former students who attended the University of Phoenix, YahooFinance.com reported. The action applies to borrowers who enrolled in Phoenix between Sept. 21, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2014, and applied for a borrower defense loan discharge, a legal ground borrowers can take against a school that engaged in misconduct related to the loan or the educational services it provided. These borrowers will receive emails from the Department of Education by early October and no further action is needed. Any payments already made to the department on related federal student loans will be refunded. Borrowers who attended Phoenix but did not file a borrower's defense discharge will need to complete an application on the Federal Student Aid website. This discharge comes after the department reviewed evidence obtained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its investigation into Phoenix that resulted in a $191 million settlement in 2019.