President Biden cancels $1.5bn student loans

The Joe Biden administration cancelled another $55 million of student loans, marking a total of $1.5 billion of student loans cancelled this way, according to Forbes.

The US Department of Education this week announced that more students will get full student loan cancellation today.

With the student loan cancellation, Biden has now cancelled more than $1.5 billion of student loans due to borrower defence to repayment, which has helped 92,000 student loan borrowers.

This is the first time since 2017 that the Education Department has announced an approval of a borrower defence claim for students who attended an institution other than Corinthian Colleges, ITT Technical Institute or American Career Institute.

“Today’s announcement continues the U.S. Department of Education’s commitment to standing up for students whose colleges took advantage of them,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said. “The Department will continue doing its part to review and approve borrower defence claims quickly and fairly so that borrowers receive the relief that they need and deserve. We also hope these approvals serve as a warning to any institution engaging in similar conduct that this type of misrepresentation is unacceptable.”

Why did these student loan borrowers get student loan cancellation? Their claims are based on borrower defence to repayment. Borrower defence to repayment is a federal regulation that began under the Obama administration that allows you to get student loan cancellation if you were misled or defrauded by your college or university.

Borrower defence applies to federal student loans only. While borrower defence includes Direct Loans, it does not include FFELP Loans or Perkins Loans. One reason is that student loan cancellation doesn’t apply to everyone. However, the good news is that you can still qualify for borrower defence to repayment if you have FFELP or Perkins Loans.

Since becoming president in January, Biden has now cancelled nearly $3 billion of student loans:

Biden cancelled $1 billion of student loans for 72,000 student loan borrowers.

Biden cancelled another $1.3 billion of student loans for 41,000 borrowers with total and permanent disability.

Biden granted student loan relief for 1.1 million student loan borrowers who defaulted on their FFELP Loans.

This week, Biden cancelled $500 million of student loan debt for 18,000 student loan borrowers under the borrower defence to student loan repayment rule.