On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that approximately 125,000 Americans are approved for $9 billion in debt relief.
The announcement relayed the changes made to the income-driven repayment as well as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Federal IDR plans were put in place in 1993 and were designed to help Americans manage their student loans by calculating the most economical way for borrowers to pay money each month towards their debt.
The PSLF program, affecting primarily government entity workers, is meant to relieve borrowers of the remainder of their direct loans after 120 IDR payments.
The press announcement stated there will be “$5.2 billion in additional debt relief for 53,000 borrowers under Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs (and) nearly $2.8 billion in new debt relief for nearly 51,000 borrowers through fixes to income-driven repayment plans.”
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In June, President Biden revealed the “SAVE” program, declaring that borrowers who make less than $15 an hour won’t have to make payments toward their student loans.
Since January 2021, the administration has in total given 3.5 million borrowers up to $127 billion in debt relief.
The press release also stated that in Illinois alone, 30,000 people were affected by the adjustments made to the IDR, with a total of $1,402 million approved for discharge.
