Biden forgives another $7.7 billion in student loans

The Biden administration has announced another multibillion-dollar bailout package for student loan borrowers, made possible through a creative workaround to existing programs.

According to a May 22 White House statement, more than 160,000 student loan borrowers will have their debts canceled, amounting to a whopping $7.7 billion.

The latest bailout package covers 66,900 borrowers under the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program, 39,200 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans, and 54,300 borrowers as part of the SAVE plan. It was made possible thanks to improvements in the Department of Education’s existing programs.

“I will never stop working to cancel student deb—no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us,” President Biden said in a statement.

So far, the president has canceled an average of more than $35,000 in student loans for 4.75 million borrowers. He’s promising to extend relief to an additional 30 million people.

Student debt cancellation has become a central part of Biden’s reelection campaign and a major thorn in Republican lawmakers’ sides.

Earlier this year, seven states led by Missouri filed a federal lawsuit challenging Biden’s ‘unilateral’ attempt at debt cancellation.

“Yet again, the President is unilaterally trying to impose an extraordinarily expensive and controversial policy that he could not get through Congress,” the lawsuit said.

Despite this opposition, young Americans are increasingly banking on debt cancellation, with recent polling suggesting it could be a major election issue.

The cost of college weighing on voters

Despite canceling $167 billion in federal student loans, Biden’s forgiveness plan hasn’t really benefited younger Americans who are graduating with record debt levels.

Elissa Nadworny, a higher education expert at NPR, said most people who have received forgiveness are “older borrowers [who’ve] been paying back their loans for many years.”

NPR said Biden’s piecemeal loan forgiveness programs “haven’t resonated the same way” among young voters as his campaign promise to cancel student debt for all. Unfortunately for them, Biden’s comprehensive student debt relief proposal was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2023.

Nevertheless, “distressed student loan borrowers” make up a huge voting bloc—and they’re less likely to be loyal to one political party, said Alan Collinge, founder of StudentLoanJustice.org.

That’s why experts think Biden will make student loan forgiveness a lynchpin of his reelection campaign.

“I just think we’re looking at very slim margins in certain states where young people” will be able to “look at how their economic future could be transformed by [student debt relief],” said Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, who heads NextGen America. “This could be what wins the election.”

According to the Creditnews real-time student debt tracker, Americans collectively owe $1.73 trillion in student loans, with the average borrower carrying more than $37,000 in debt.