Biden will announce new student loan forgiveness plan impacting tens of millions of Americans

President Joe Biden will announce on Monday a new, sweeping student loan forgiveness plan, which could benefit tens of millions of Americans.

Biden will share the details of the aid package at an event in Madison, Wisconsin.

The news comes less than a year after the Supreme Court rejected his first attempt to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt per borrower. The conservative justices ruled that that effort was unconstitutional in June.

Although Biden’s Plan B for student loan forgiveness will be narrower than his initial effort, tens of millions of borrowers may still see their balances erased or lowered if the program survives legal challenges this time.

“These historic steps reflect President Biden’s determination that we cannot allow student debt to leave students worse off than before they went to college,” U.S. Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal said in a statement.

Kvaal added that Biden had directed the department “to complete these programs as quickly as possible, and we are going to do just that.”

Biden’s revised plan targets specific borrowers, including those who:

• Are already eligible for debt cancellation under an existing government program but haven’t applied
• Have been in repayment for 20 years or longer on their undergraduate loans, or over 25 years on their graduate loans
• Attended schools of questionable value
• Are experiencing financial hardship

It’s not entirely clear yet how financial hardship will be defined, but it could include those burdened by medical debt or high child care expenses, the Biden administration said.

The president is also expected to discuss a plan to “cancel runaway interest” for millions of borrowers.

Consumer advocates have long criticized the fact that interest rates on federal student loans may exceed 8%, which can make it tough for borrowers who fall behind…