Borrowers cheer Biden's record-setting student loan forgiveness, but left bitter with the system [View all]

Source: The Hill

01/01/25 6:00 AM ET


Joe Biden will leave office with the legacy of approving the greatest amount of student debt relief of any president, changing the lives of millions of Americans. Many of these borrowers waited for years for the forgiveness while paying down their loans, in some cases sacrificing major life events such as buying a home due to their debt. While grateful to see their loan balance disappear, borrowers who received forgiveness under Biden lament a system they say is holding back millions of others.

“I finally got the loans forgiven in December 2023 and received the zero balance letter. How is it affecting me almost a year later? It really set me back over paying on these loans for years. I never built significant savings at all. I don’t have anything saved. I’m a solo parent, and I do not receive child support,” said Christinia Winton, a mother of two and public servant in Arizona who received loan forgiveness on almost $30,000 through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

The Biden administration forgave some $180 billion of student loans in total, taking away the debt entirely for almost 5 million Americans. The relief has largely been split up between those on income-driven repayment plans such as PSLF, the borrower defense program that forgives loans to those cheated by their schools and individuals with disabilities.

One of Biden’s accomplishments in office was fixing some of the problems with PSLF, a program meant to give public service workers such as teachers and police a means to receive student debt relief if they make 120 qualifying payments. Biden made regulatory improvements on the program and gave a one-time count adjustment of payments to help get borrowers on the right track and shorten their repayment time.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5061523-biden-student-loan-debt-relief-forgiveness/