Latest relief under Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program brings total loan forgiveness approved by the Administration to over $175 billion for more than 4.8 million Americans | Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education
The Biden-Harris Administration announced the approval of approximately $4.5 billion in additional student loan relief for over 60,000 borrowers across the country who work in public service on Thursday Oct 17th 2024. This relief, which is the result of significant fixes that the Administration has made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program, brings the total loan forgiveness approved by the Administration to over $175 billion for more than 4.8 million Americans, which includes $74 billion for over one million borrowers through PSLF. Today’s announcement includes information on how many borrowers will receive this relief, as well as the total amount of relief per state. This unprecedented milestone builds on the Administration’s efforts to provide relief to as many borrowers as possible across the country. Before President Biden took office, only 7,000 public servants had ever received debt relief through PSLF.
“Before President Biden and Vice President Harris entered the White House, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was so riddled by dysfunction that just 7,000 Americans ever qualified and countless public servants were trapped making payments on debts that should have been forgiven,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “From Day One, the Biden-Harris administration made fixing this broken program a top priority, and today, I’m tremendously proud that over one million teachers, nurses, social workers, veterans, and other public servants have received lifechanging loan forgiveness. As Secretary of Education, I want to send a message to college students across America that pursuing a career in public service is not only a noble calling but a reliable pathway to becoming debt-free within a decade.”
The PSLF program supports public servants—including teachers, nurses, social workers, first responders, service members, and other public servants—by forgiving the remaining student loan balance for those who make the required 120 qualifying monthly payments. This relief includes both borrowers who benefitted from the Biden-Harris Administration’s limited PSLF waiver, a temporary opportunity that ended in October 2022, as well as from regulatory improvements made to the program during this Administration.
In addition to these fixes to PSLF, the Biden-Harris Administration has also implemented further improvements to PSLF to make it easier for borrowers to participate in the program. As of July 1, 2024, the PSLF Program is now fully managed by the Department through StudentAid.gov, rather than by a single, specialty loan servicer. That means that, for the first time, borrowers can now manage all aspects of their PSLF journey on StudentAid.gov, including submitting their PSLF form and tracking their progress toward forgiveness. These updates simplified the process for borrowers and will provide faster processing of PSLF forms.
