WASHINGTON — Retiring President Biden said Monday that his administration would forgive federally owned student debt for a further 150,000 borrowers — costing taxpayers another $4.23 billion and bringing the grand total to roughly 5 million handout recipients during his term of office.
Biden, 82, will depart the presidency Jan. 20 after ordering about $183.6 billion in student debt write-offs — after the Supreme Court in 2023 struck down a prior plan to wipe $400 billion off the balance sheets at a stroke of a pen.
Monday’s announcement continues a piecemeal approach by Biden, who nears the end of a strategy to compensate for the court-killed plan to write off between $10,000 and $20,000 per college attendee.
The initiative stoked sharp criticism from Republicans and complaints from Americans who either didn’t attend college or have already repaid their balance.
“Today, my Administration is approving student loan relief for more than 150,000 borrowers – bringing the total number of Americans who have had their student debt cancelled by my Administration to over 5 million,” Biden said in a statement.
“These 150,000 borrowers include: almost 85,000 borrowers who attended schools that cheated and defrauded their students, 61,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and 6,100 public service workers.”
The Education Department said that $465 million was being dispensed through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, a bipartisan initiative signed into law by President George W. Bush that suffered implementation issues after it took effect in 2017.
The additional grants include $1.26 billion to students who were allegedly defrauded — with $1.15 billion of that going to people who attended schools owned by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education — and $2.5 billion for people with total or permanent disabilities.
It’s not immediately clear if any of the latest grants will face litigation — as some of Biden’s attempts have since the major Supreme Court decision.
The high court is already poised to review prior attempts by Biden to wipe $17 billion in debt for students who allegedly were defrauded by for-profit institutions.
