(USNewsMag.com) – President Joe Biden is canceling another $1.2 billion in student loan debt for over 153,000 borrowers through an executive order he signed.
Originally planned to be signed in July, Biden signed the executive order that applies to borrowers who are enrolled in the Savings on Valuable Education (SAVE) on February 21st. Under the new plan, student loan debt for borrowers who have been repaying their loans for more than 10 years and owe less than $12,000 in student loan debt will have their debt canceled. Borrowers who owe more than $12,000 in debt will have their student loans canceled after paying for an additional year for each additional $1,000 borrowed.
Borrowers already enrolled in the SAVE program have received emails from the U.S. Department of Education on or before February 23rd, and those who are not enrolled but are eligible for student loan forgiveness will receive emails by the end of February encouraging them to sign up.
This is the second executive order Biden has signed eliminating $138 billion in federal student loans for almost 3.9 million borrowers. He previously pushed through plans forgiving $39 billion for borrowers that were on income-driven repayment plans for 20-25 years; $9 billion in loans for public service workers, borrowers with disabilities or on income-driven repayment plans; and $5 billion for borrowers that had other existing federal student loan programs.
The executive orders are part of his plan to forgive student loan debt despite the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling striking down his earlier plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt for nearly 43 million borrowers. Under the proposal the Supreme Court struck down, Biden had attempted to alter the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act, which was intended to assist veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Biden attempted to widen the law to cover federal student loans during national emergencies, arguing the pandemic constituted a national emergency.
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