Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email partnerships@19thnews.org.

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Let’s talk menopause

Menu

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

Menopause, without the noise

Let’s talk about it, in your inbox every Tuesday.

[altcha]

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email community@19thnews.org to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at community@19thnews.org.

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Strategic Plan
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact
Donate
Home

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics, policy and power. Read our story.

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

Menopause, without the noise

Let’s talk about it, in your inbox every Tuesday.

[altcha]

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email community@19thnews.org to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at community@19thnews.org.

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Strategic Plan
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics, policy and power. Read our story.

19th News Fellowships

HBCU alums, become a fellow in our newsroom.

Sign up for our newsletter

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Education

Biden is forgiving another $1.2 billion in student loan debt starting today

More than 150,000 borrowers approved for a special benefit in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan will see their debts automatically discharged.

Student loan borrowers gather near The White House with signs.
Student loan borrowers gather near The White House to tell President Biden to cancel student debt on May 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

Nadra Nittle

Education reporter

Published

2024-02-21 04:00
4:00
February 21, 2024
am

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Republish this story

President Joe Biden is slated to announce Wednesday during his fundraising trip to Los Angeles that his administration will cancel another $1.2 billion in student loan debt — this time for about 153,000 borrowers. All of them have been approved for the shortened repayment period benefit under the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. 

These borrowers will start getting emails from the Biden administration as early as Wednesday informing them that they will receive debt forgiveness. They don’t need to take any further action to get their relief. As loan servicers process their forgiveness, they will see their debts discharged from their accounts.  

To qualify for the reduced time to forgiveness benefit, borrowers must have signed up for the SAVE Plan, made at least a decade of payments and taken out initial student loan balances of $12,000 or less. The Department of Education noted that for every $1,000 taken out over $12,000, borrowers can obtain relief after an additional year of payments. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“The people getting the debt relief announced today have sacrificed and saved for a decade or more to make their student loan payments, have lower loan balances and are more likely to have qualified for Pell grants to attend college,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona during a call with reporters Tuesday. “Many SAVE forgiveness recipients come from lower- and middle-income backgrounds. Many took out loans to attend community colleges. Some were at higher risk for delinquency and default. That’s why the actions we’re announcing today do matter.”

  • Read Next:
    Protesters hold
  • Read Next: Your employer can now match your student loan repayments as 401(k) contributions

Borrowers who qualify for the shortened time to forgiveness but who have not signed up for SAVE will be contacted by the Department of Education in the coming weeks about enrolling. At present, 7.5 million borrowers are registered for SAVE, and 4.3 million of them have monthly payments of $0 based on their incomes.

The Biden-Harris administration describes the SAVE Plan as “the most-affordable repayment plan for low-and middle-income borrowers,” noting that it allows many of these individuals to obtain earlier loan forgiveness. All SAVE enrollees will earn forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, as the time frame varies based on whether borrowers have graduate school loans. 

Sign up for more news and context delivered to your inbox, daily
[altcha]

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email community@19thnews.org to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at community@19thnews.org.

Preview of the daily newsletter from The 19th

The SAVE Plan prevents borrowers from generating the “runaway interest” that saddles them with loan balances bigger than the amounts they took out initially. By July, the Department of Education will activate the SAVE Plan’s other benefits, which will see monthly payments shrink from 10 percent of a borrower’s discretionary income to 5 percent.   

The announcement about the shortened repayment period benefit comes as the Biden-Harris administration is scheduled to hold a session this week about proposed regulations to expand the borrower pool eligible for loan forgiveness. In particular, the administration is proposing that borrowers enduring financial hardship be prioritized for loan relief. 

Although the Supreme Court blocked the administration’s loan forgiveness plan in June that would have canceled up to $20,000 in debt for all borrowers earning under $125,000 annually, the administration has, to date, approved debt relief for 3.9 million people amounting to roughly $138 billion. 

  • Read Next:
    People march from the Supreme Court to the White House after the nation's high court stuck down President Biden's student debt relief program.
  • Read Next: 800,000 people are getting student debt relief. Here’s who qualifies.

“I’m proud of what we’re doing to fix a broken student loan system, and we’re just getting started,” Cardona said. “We won’t accept a broken system where too many people are locked out of opportunity, where too many default on their student loans each year, where costs make starting and finishing higher education feel impossible. We won’t stop fighting to deliver more relief and open doors of opportunity to more Americans more quickly.” 

Borrowers interested in enrolling in the SAVE plan or in learning if they qualify for the program’s shortened time to forgiveness benefit can visit StudentAid.gov/save. 

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Recommended for you

A students sits at a desk in a college library.
The return of student loan debt collection: What borrowers need to know
Graduates in graduation gowns shown in silhouette.
Women could be most affected by Trump’s penalties for overdue student loans
A line of naval academy students walk on the campus.
Hundreds of ‘DEI’ books are back at the Naval Academy. An alum and a bookshop fought their removal.
A shelf of frequently banned books on display at Sandmeyer’s Bookstore in Chicago.
Students sue Department of Defense for pulling ‘DEI’ books from its school libraries

19th News Fellowships

HBCU alums, become a fellow in our newsroom.

Sign up for our newsletter

Explore more coverage from The 19th
Abortion Politics Education LGBTQ+ Caregiving
View all topics

Support representative journalism today.

Learn more about membership.

  • Give $19
  • Give $50
  • Give $100
  • Any amount
  • Transparency
    • About
    • Team
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Community Guidelines
    • Gift Acceptance Policy
  • Newsroom
    • Latest Stories
    • Strategic Plan
    • 19th News Network
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Fellowships
  • Newsletters
    • Daily
    • The Amendment
    • Menopause
  • Support
    • Ways to Give
    • Sponsorship
    • Republishing
    • Volunteer

The 19th is a reader-supported nonprofit news organization. Our stories are free to republish with these guidelines.