April 8 (UPI) — The White House on Monday announced a new student loan debt forgiveness plan in its latest effort to provide relief to borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s original plan.
The plan would help bring the total of borrowers granted relief under the Biden administration to 30 million when combined with past efforts, according to a White House statement.
“These plans would fully eliminate accrued interest for 23 million borrowers, cancel the full amount of student debt for over 4 million borrowers and provide more than 10 million borrowers with at least $5,000 in debt relief or more,” the White House said.
The plan aims to provide relief to borrowers who owe more than they did when they started repaying their loans, those who are eligible for loan forgiveness but haven’t applied, those who entered repayment 20 or more years ago, borrowers enrolled in low-financial-value programs and those experiencing hardship paying back their loans.
The White House added this relief would particularly impact Black and Latino borrowers who disproportionately face high debt burdens.
“Not only are Black students more likely to take on student loans than their White peers, but they also end up holding nearly twice as much debt as their White peers four years after graduation,” the White House said. “And Latino borrowers are also more likely to default on their student loans compared to White borrowers.”
The White House said Biden will travel to Madison, Wis., to detail the plans while Vice President Kamala Harris will speak in Philadelphia, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff will address supporters in Phoenix and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to explain the deal in New York City.
The Biden administration continued to chip away at one of its main campaign promises after the Supreme Court struck down a more sweeping student debt plan that used COVID-19 relief-related procedures.
“To date, the Biden-Harris administration has approved $146 billion in student debt relief for four million Americans through more than two dozen executive actions,” the White House said in a statement. “That includes fixing Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Driven Repayment plans, so borrowers finally get the relief they are entitled to under the law.”
Last month, 11 Republican-led states sued the Biden administration over its student loan forgiveness plans, charging that it was circumventing the Supreme Court decision. They also claimed it leaves taxpayers to pay off the loan instead of the student borrowers who created the bills.
