It’s Wednesday…
President Biden’s public schedule for 01/03/2024:
| 10:00 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time In-Town Pool |
| 2:00 PM Presidential Daily Brief | The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press |
| 2:00 PM Press Briefing | Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby James S. Brady Press Briefing Room |
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and John Kirby @2:00 p.m. D.C., time:
Student Debt Relief Tweet
From Tuesday…
My Administration has cancelled student debt for 3.6 million people through various actions, bringing the promise of higher education to more hardworking Americans.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 2, 2024
And we’re going to keep going.
I went a little deeper on “cancelled student debt” this morning, as I’ve noticed a lot of people assume these loans are being forgiven at random or being provided to people that haven’t actually paid on their loan at all.
The student loans that have been forgiven thus far are related to fixing a system that was not being used properly or in some cases at all as NPR and CNBC explained on 12/06/2023:
The announcement is the latest result from a complex, slow-moving “account adjustment” the Department promised in April, 2022. That effort came after advocates and an NPR investigation revealed mistakes and mismanagement of IDR plans, which promise affordable monthly payments based on a borrower’s income and loan forgiveness after 20 or 25 years.
Among the problems the Biden administration committed to address: Some loan servicers weren’t keeping track of borrowers’ progress toward forgiveness, low-income borrowers didn’t always receive credit toward forgiveness when they made their monthly payments, and millions of borrowers spent long periods of time in forbearance because that was easier for servicers than helping borrowers enroll in an IDR plan.
[snip]
This account adjustment has taken considerable time, as the Department has been reviewing borrowers’ records in tranches. It announced the first and largest tranche of loan forgiveness in July, with 804,000 borrowers receiving $39 billion in debt relief. In early October, it announced a second tranche of 51,000 borrowers receiving another $2.8 billion in relief.
NPR.org. 12/06/2023.
More than $2 billion of the aid will go to nearly 46,000 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. Those plans are supposed to lead to debt forgiveness after a set period, but this often didn’t happen because loan servicers failed to keep track of borrowers’ payments, experts say.
In addition, 34,400 borrowers who have worked in public service for a decade or more will receive $2.6 billion in loan cancellation, the U.S. Department of Education said. Borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have also struggled to get the debt erasure they’ve been promised due to errors in their payment counts and other issues.
The Biden administration has now cancelled nearly $132 billion in student debt for more than 3.6 million Americans.
CNBC.com. 12/06/2023.
From ED.gov…
07/14/2023:
[snip]
The forthcoming discharges are a result of fixes implemented by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure all borrowers have an accurate count of the number of monthly payments that qualify toward forgiveness under income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. These fixes are part of the Department’s commitment to address historical failures in the administration of the Federal student loan program in which qualifying payments made under IDR plans that should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accounted for. Borrowers are eligible for forgiveness if they have accumulated the equivalent of either 20 or 25 years of qualifying months.
Ed.gov. 07/14/2023.
10/04/2023:
Biden-Harris Administration Announces an Additional $9 Billion in Student Debt Relief:
[snip]
The Biden-Harris administration announced today that an additional 125,000 Americans have been approved for $9 billion in debt relief through fixes the U.S. Department of Education has made to income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), and granting automatic relief for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities. Today’s announcement brings the total approved debt cancellation by the Biden-Harris Administration to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million Americans.
The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing it has approved:
Ed.gov. 10/04/2023.
- $5.2 billion in additional debt relief for 53,000 borrowers under Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs.
- Nearly $2.8 billion in new debt relief for nearly 51,000 borrowers through fixes to income-driven repayment plans. These are borrowers who have been in repayment for 20 or more years but never got the relief they were entitled to
- $1.2 billion for nearly 22,000 borrowers who have a total or permanent disability and have been identified and approved for discharge through a data match with the Social Security Administration.
12/06/2023:
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $5 Billion in Additional Student Debt Relief:
[snip]
The Biden-Harris Administration announced today the approval of an additional $4.8 billion in student loan debt relief for 80,300 borrowers. These discharges stem from fixes made by the U.S. Department of Education to income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
Today’s announcement brings the total approved debt cancellation by the Biden-Harris Administration to nearly $132 billion for more than 3.6 million Americans.
“Before President Biden took office, it was virtually impossible for eligible borrowers to access the student debt relief they rightfully earned,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The data released today once again make clear that the Biden-Harris Administration’s relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system are paying off in a big way, with more than 3.6 million borrowers now approved for nearly $132 billion in loan forgiveness. This level of debt relief is unparalleled and we have no intention of slowing down.”
Today’s debt relief approvals are in two categories:
Ed.gov. 12/06/2023.
- $2.2 billion for nearly 46,000 borrowers through fixes to IDR that will provide borrowers with an accurate count of progress toward forgiveness and address longstanding concerns with misuse of forbearance. Including today’s numbers, the Biden-Harris Administration has now approved almost $44 billion in IDR relief for nearly 901,000 borrowers.
- $2.6 billion for 34,400 borrowers through PSLF. This includes borrowers who have benefited through the limited PSLF waiver and ongoing regulatory improvements to the programs. This brings total relief through PSLF up to $53.5 billion for almost 750,000 borrowers since October 2021. By contrast, only about 7,000 borrowers had received forgiveness through these programs at the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.
For more on Student Loan Forgiveness @White House.gov.
Climate Agenda Tweet
From Wednesday…
My Administration is leading and delivering on the most ambitious climate agenda in history.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 3, 2024
This year, we'll build on it.
For more on the “most ambitious climate agenda in history” @ White House.gov.
From the White House…
01/03/2023:
As of 10 minutes to article post time, there was nothing new from the White House.
Media Advisory via Forth.news as those aren’t posted to White House.gov…
01/03/2023:
- President Joe Biden to Travel to South Carolina On Monday, January 8th, the President will travel to South Carolina. Additional details to follow.
This is an Open Thread.
