WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden announced student debt cancellation of nearly $5 billion on Friday for an additional 74,000 borrowers, including more than half who earned forgiveness after 10 years of public service as teachers, nurses and firefighters.

The White House announcement brings the total loan forgiveness approved by the Biden-Harris administration to $136.6bn for more than 3.7 million Americans.

Nearly 44,000 of the borrowers approved for relief are those with a decade of public service, with close to 30,000 are people who have been repaying their loans for at least 20 years but never got the relief through income-driven repayment plans.

Biden vowed to continue working to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling blocking his plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.

“I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams,” he said in a statement.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the department was moving “full speed ahead” with efforts to deliver even greater debt relief.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2024