Who benefits from Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, how much debt could be canceled
The amount of debt canceled depends on whether the borrower received a Pell grant to attend college.
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden announced his decision on Wednesday to cancel some federal student loan debt, but even a broad forgiveness plan may leave out some of the 43 million borrowers.
The plan includes forgiving $10,000 for borrowers who make less than $125,000 per year and extending the payment freeze one final time until the end of the year.
In a tweet Wednesday morning, Biden said the amount of forgiveness will be higher for low-income borrowers who went to college on Pell Grants. Those who went to college on Pell Grants will receive $20,000 in student loan forgiveness.
His administration has already canceled nearly $32 billion of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student debt by expanding existing forgiveness programs for public-sector workers, disabled borrowers and students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges. In addition, he's extended the pandemic-related pause on student loan payments several times.
But those actions fall short of a campaign pledge Biden made to more broadly cancel student debt. He's also facing pressure to do more from other Democrats who are urging him to cancel $50,000 per borrower.
Here's what we know so far about who will benefit as the President takes steps to cancel more student loan debt:
Relief for those earning less than $125,000
Excluding borrowers who earn more than a certain amount is one way Biden could narrow student debt relief.
White House officials are leaning toward canceling $10,000 in debt for every borrower who earns less than $125,000 a year, CNN reported earlier this week.
Earlier this year, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the President is using his campaign comments about providing student loan forgiveness to individuals making less than $125,000 a year as a frame for his current considerations.
His campaign proposal called for immediately canceling a minimum of $10,000 in student debt per person as a response to the pandemic, as well as forgiving all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities for those borrowers earning up to $125,000 a year.
Federal student loan amounts in each state
