In the US, the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness initiative has eliminated $175 billion in debt for nearly 5 million Americans.
$4.5B was recently forgiven for over 60,000 teachers, first responders, social workers and more public service professionals.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was established in 2007 to eradicate not-for-profit and government workers’ federal student debt after 10 years of payment.
However, the program didn’t live up to its expectations with exclusionary acceptance criteria.
Mistakes or technicalities led to a 98% rejection rate, rendering PSFL ineffective.
“Public service workers – teachers, nurses, firefighters, and more – are the bedrocks of our communities and our country.
They dedicate their careers to giving back to others and were given the promise of student debt forgiveness after 10 years of public service and 10 years of payments under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
But for too long, the government failed to live up to its commitments, and only 7,000 people had ever received forgiveness under Public Service Loan Forgiveness before Vice President Harris and I took office,” –President Joe Biden.
Clearly, this has swept a sense of relief over the lives of many Americans. However, other US taxpayers and college grads still burdened by student debt are frustrated.
They feel that they are financially supporting a pool of randomly selected people.
Biden is currently battling several Republican attorneys in court over the PSFL’s goal to use another $147B to cancel student debt for 27.6 borrowers.
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Image source: Victoria Pickering/Flickr
