Biden cancels nearly $6B in student debt for 77,700 public service workers

President Biden canceled $5.8 billion in student loan debt for 77,700 public service workers Thursday through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF).

The workers who will receive the debt include teachers, nurses and firefighters, among others. The Biden administration overall has canceled student debt for more than 870,000 public service workers, eclipsing $62.5 billion in debt forgiven, according to the White House’s announcement.

The public service workers receiving loans are set to receive an emailed message with the news, signed by Biden.

“Because you’ve pursued a career in public service, you’re on track to get your eligible student loans forgiven in less than a year through Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” the message reads.

The relief is a result of fixes that the Biden administration made to the PSLF program. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement that the PSLF previously had “logistical troubles and trap doors.”

“Today, more than 100 times more borrowers are eligible for PSLF than there were at the beginning of the Administration. The Biden Administration is turning a promise broken under our predecessor into a promise kept,” Cardona said.

In January, the Biden administration announced it would forgive $3.2 billion for those on the PSLF program. At the time, it had forgiven $56.7 billion for 793,400 PSLF borrowers.

Overall, as of January, it had forgiven the debt held by more than 3.7 million student loan borrowers through either PSLF or other avenues, such as fixes in income-driven repayment options.