Biden Administration Rolls Out More Student Loan Relief For Public Service Workers

President Joe Biden's administration continues to forgive student loans, even in the face of legal challenges.

The Department of Education said Thursday that 35,000 additional borrowers had $1.2 billion in loans forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The PSLF program offers complete loan forgiveness to borrowers who worked full-time for a public service organization and made 120 qualifying student loan payments.

Under Biden, the department has expended the scope of the program, allowing more people receive forgiveness. Until 2021, PSLF had strict requirements that resulted in 7,000 workers receiving forgiveness since the program was established in 2007. Rule changes under the Biden administration have made the process much easier, and many more people eligible.

As a result, a total of 946,000 borrowers working in public service have had $69.2 billion in loans forgiven under the redesigned PSLF, according to Department of Education data.

A History of Legal Battles

Despite several legal battles in the fight for student loan forgiveness, the Biden administration is still rolling out updates to several programs. Last month it proposed a rule to allow preschool and other early childhood educators who work for private institutions to benefit from PSLF forgiveness. 

At the beginning of the month, Biden’s updates to the Saving for a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan were partially blocked by Federal courts in two cases brought by state governments. However, the Department of Education later received a stay, which allowed for a plan to cut payments in half to proceed.

Although the lawsuit has not been resolved yet, the SAVE plan is still one of the qualifying income-driven plans in which borrowers can make payments toward public service forgiveness.