President Joe Biden has canceled nearly $6 billion in student loans for another 78,000 public service workers, the White House announced on Thursday.
The $5.8 billion debt forgiveness for teachers, nurses and firefighters and others means that 870,000 public service workers have now had their school loans wiped out during the Biden administration through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, the White House said in a statement.
"These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law," the statement said.
"And through all of our various student debt relief actions, nearly four million Americans have had their student debt cancelled under my Administration," it continued, adding that only 7,000 borrowers "ever receiving forgiveness prior to my Administration."
In total, more than 3.9 million Americans have had $143.6 billion in school debt canceled, the Department of Education said.
On top of that, another 380,000 borrowers who may be eligible for debt relief through the program in the next couple of years will be receiving an email next week thanking them for their service and alerting them their loans could also be canceled, the Department of Education said.
"The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is an important way to bring more Americans into public service and help them get out from under the burden of student loan debt. But for too long, the program failed to live up to its commitments - and public service workers like you never got the relief you are entitled to under the law because of errors and administrative failures. I vowed to fix that, and I'm proud that my Administration has delivered on that promise," the email from Biden, who is running for reelection this November, will say.
"I hope you continue the important work of serving your community - and if you do, in less than two years you could get your remaining student loans forgiven through Public Service Loan Forgiveness," the email will say.
The Biden administration said in June 2023 that it would find other ways around canceling student loans after the Supreme Court in June blocked the president's plan to waive $400 billion.
