Biden Forgives More Student Loans To The Tune Of $1.2 Billion

President Joe Biden gave an additional 35,000 borrowers a break thanks to his administration's move that cancels $1.2 billion in student debt. Those who will benefit from the loan forgiveness are those in the public service, including nurses, teachers and first responders.

In a statement Thursday while recovering from COVID-19 at his home in Delaware, Biden said that the beneficiaries of the loan forgiveness will now have "more breathing room to support themselves and their families."

"These 35,000 borrowers approved for forgiveness today are public service workers — teachers, nurses, law enforcement officials and first responders who have dedicated their lives to strengthening their communities," said the president in a statement, per CBS News.

The president has previously cancelled student loans, and the latest addition will bring the total student debt forgiven to $168.5 billion. The Department of Education stated that the figure translates to about 4.8 million Americans whose student loans were forgiven.

In the latest move to cancel debt, those who qualified were those part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. This helps those public servants, like nurses, teachers, and those in law enforcement, to have a breather on their 11th year of repaying the debt since the program is designed to have their debts canceled after having dealt with the repayment for 10 years.

Student loan forgiveness has been one of the primary promises of Biden during the presidential campaign in 2020. Earlier, the Supreme Court struck down a proposal of the Biden administration to forgive student loans worth $400 billion, Bloomberg stated. This led to the president, acting on his own to help bring the planned student debt relief to fruition.

The latest addition of forgiven loans came at what is considered a critical time for the president's campaign, especially since there has been a clamor for him to step down. The latest blow to Biden's efforts to stay in the game was Wednesday's announcement from the White House that he tested positive for COVID-19, prohibiting him from getting back on the campaign trail momentarily.