United States President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that further student debt relief for public servants will be implemented, amounting to approximately $4.5 billion.
This announcement comes just over two weeks before the presidential election.
The action will affect about 60,000 borrowers across the country, according to the White House, which highlighted the efforts of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to improve loan forgiveness since taking office.
Harris is the Democratic nominee in November’s White House race, where she will be running against former Republican President Donald Trump.
The announcement arrives as households grapple with increased living costs since the Covid-19 pandemic, with voters identifying the economy as a crucial concern in polls.
In a statement, Biden said that with this latest action, over one million individuals have had their debt canceled under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The program was designed to support teachers, nurses, and other public servants by offering student debt forgiveness after 10 years of public service and 10 years of payments.
“But for too long, the government failed to live up to its commitments, and only 7,000 people had ever received forgiveness,” Biden stated. “I will never stop working to make higher education affordable,” he added.
In her own statement, Harris remarked that higher education “should be a pathway to economic opportunity — not a lifetime of debt.” She also pledged to “continue our work to lower costs, make higher education more affordable, and relieve the burden of student debt.”
Biden has been working to cancel student debt for millions of Americans, following a student loan payment freeze instituted by Trump during the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, Americans collectively hold $1.6 trillion in student loans, and many borrowers end up repaying them over decades as they begin their careers and families.
