Biden has canceled $9.5 billion in student debt so far. At this pace he'd wipe out less than 5% of the total over his 4 years in office.

August 31, 2021

Biden has canceled $9.5 billion in student debt so far. At this pace he'd wipe out less than 5% of the total over his 4 years in office.

So far, Biden has canceled $9.5 billion of the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis - less than 1%.
If he continues at this pace, Biden could cancel just under 5% of total student debt by 2024.
He has yet to cancel any student debt broadly - something many Democrats are pushing for.
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Over the past two weeks, President Joe Biden has made headlines for canceling student debt for defrauded borrowers and borrowers with disabilities, bringing the total debt cancellation since he took office to $9.5 billion. That's about 0.6% of the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis.

If this continues at the same pace, Biden will be on track to cancel about 4.8% of total student debt by the end of his term.

When he was campaigning for president, Biden promised to reform the student-loan system. This included fixing flawed forgiveness programs, like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, along with canceling $10,000 in student debt per borrower. While the Education Department is in the process of implementing reforms to PSLF and other forgiveness programs, as Insider has reported, the president has yet to act on his debt cancellation promises.

Dan Zibel, chief counsel and cofounder of Student Defense, which works to advance students' rights, told Insider that there are "a lot of issues still lingering out there," like reforming PSLF and holding defunct schools that defrauded students accountable.

"I think that there is a lot to come," Zibel said. "And I think there are some still unanswered questions from the administration about whether they're going to be taking any steps that are broader."

Biden has only carried out targeted student-debt cancellation

The $9.5 billion that has been canceled for borrowers so far has only gone to those who already were eligible for relief. To date, borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools have gotten $2.6 billion in relief because Education Secretary Miguel Cardona reversed a Trump-era methodology that caused eligible borrowers to be denied debt forgiveness.

Borrowers with disabilities have also received almost $7 billion in student debt relief. Before Cardona, borrowers with disabilities who wanted loan forgiveness had to undergo administrative hurdles to qualify, including submitting paperwork verifying their income and going through a three-year monitoring period.

Cardona waived the paperwork requirement "indefinitely" on August 19 to make the process "as simple as possible for borrowers who need support."

The debt cancellation that has occured so far has been significant in helping borrowers who were previously entitled to relief, but that still leaves 45 million Americans shouldering a debt burden some fear they'll never pay off.

"I've paid back almost all of my loans, but I still owe the full amount," one borrower previously told Insider. "It's a never-ending cycle."

What's next for student-debt cancellation and reform

The Education and Justice Departments have been reviewing Biden's legal authority to cancel student $50,000 in student debt per borrower - something many Democrats have been pushing for - for months, but there is no update on where those reviews stand.

In the meantime, the Education Department has been receiving feedback on reforms it should make to the student-loan system and is taking steps toward implementing new rules to the system, which could take years. Advocacy organizations, like the Student Borrower Protection Center, are pushing for reforms to PSLF, which Biden has not acted on yet, while Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other Democrats are leading the push for widescale debt cancellation.

"The president has the power to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt right now," Massachusetts Warren previously told Insider. "Senator Schumer and I are going to continue to push for this, but Biden doesn't need any authorization from Congress. He needs to pick up the pen and do it himself."

The pandemic freeze on student loan payments is lifting in February, and with many borrowers worried about their abilities to restart payments, some see debt cancellation as the only viable form of relief.

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