The U.S. Department of Education has approved the cancellation of $4.9 billion in federal student loan debt for close to 74,000 borrowers, officials announced on Friday.
The announcement – the latest in a series of cancellation efforts that span the last four years – brings the total amount of student loan debt relief under the Biden administration to $136.6 billion for more than 3.7 million borrowers.
The additional $1.7 billion in debt relief announced on Friday is the result of fixes to the federal income-driven repayment plan.
In the wake of the high court’s decision to strike down the loan cancellation plan, Education Department officials hatched a new strategy to provide large-scale student loan debt cancellation.
“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on our student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible,” Biden said in a statement.
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