Kehinde Fajobi
US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday a new round of student debt relief for public servants, totalling approximately $4.5 billion, just over two weeks ahead of the presidential election.
The White House stated that this action will benefit around 60,000 borrowers nationwide, highlighting the administration’s efforts to enhance loan forgiveness since taking office.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee in the upcoming election against Republican former president Donald Trump, has been actively involved in these initiatives. This announcement comes at a time when households are grappling with rising living costs, with many voters identifying the economy as a critical issue in recent polls.
Biden noted that this latest action means that more than one million individuals have received debt cancellation through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which aims to support professionals like teachers and nurses by forgiving their student loans after 10 years of public service and payments.
“But for too long, the government failed to live up to its commitments, and only 7,000 people had ever received forgiveness,” Biden stated. “I will never stop working to make higher education affordable,” he added.
In her statement, Harris emphasised that higher education “should be a pathway to economic opportunity — not a lifetime of debt.”
She pledged to “continue our work to lower costs, make higher education more affordable, and relieve the burden of student debt.”
Biden’s administration has sought to cancel student debt for millions of Americans, following a student loan payment freeze that was implemented during the coronavirus pandemic by Trump.
Currently, Americans collectively owe $1.6 trillion in student loans, with many facing decades of repayments as they begin their careers and families.