Biden cancels $5.8 billion in student loan debt. Here's what could mean for Floridians who owe

C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
·4 min read
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Fresh from canceling $1.2 billion in federal student loan debt last month, President Joe Biden announced Thursday plans to cancel nearly $6 billion more.

That's welcome relief for students and former students in Florida, which showed a balance of $103.3 billion for 2.7 million borrowers in the state as of last September, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid site. That puts Florida students with the third highest amount of federal student loan debt in the country.

This time, Biden is setting his sights on 78,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, and more, restoring a loan forgiveness plan that was already in place.

What is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program?

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is a special repayment plan for teachers, firefighters and other public service workers and nonprofit employees that forgives the remaining balance on your debt if you have been paying down your loan for a decade or more and have been employed full-time for an eligible employer.

The program was created in 2007 during the Bush Administration. However, in 2017, data from the Department of Education showed that 99% of applications for loan forgiveness submitted to third-party debt servicers under the plan had been denied. In 2021, the administration allowed borrowers to receive credit for past periods of repayment that wouldn't have otherwise qualified for PSLF, adding more credited time to thousands of borrowers’ repayment timelines, but that extension ended in 2022.

"These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law," Biden said in a White House release. "Because of the fixes my Administration has made, we have now canceled student debt for over 870,000 public service workers — compared to only about 7,000 public service borrowers ever receiving forgiveness prior to my Administration.

There are 78,000 qualifying public sector workers who will see their debts zeroed out, and the administration is sending emails from Biden to another 380,000 borrowers in the public sector to let them know they are one or two years away from having their debts canceled as well.

Officials have been adjusting the accounts of millions of PSLF borrowers, as well as those in payment plans based on their incomes. They’re expected to wrap up their calculations by July.

Who can get their student loan debt forgiven?

You are eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program if you're employed by an eligible government or non-profit organization and meet the qualifications. To qualify, you must:

Paused payments count toward PSLF as long as you meet all other qualifications.

How much do Floridians owe in federal student debt?

According to StudentAid.com, as of Sept. 30, 2023 the total federal student loan debt balance in Florida was $103.3 billion, including outstanding principal and interest balances, for 2.7 million borrowers. This includes Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and Perkins Loans but does not include private loan debt. That's also down from the $105.4 billion it was just months previously.

That puts Florida students at the third highest amount of federal student loan debt, behind California ($146.7 billion) and Texas ($112.7 billion). More than 1.4 million Floridians are carrying up to $20,000 in debt, and 1.3 million owe more than $20,000. Nearly 230,000 Floridians owe more than $100,000.

The average federal student loan for Florida borrowers was $38,065, as of Sept. 30, 2023. That was the fourth highest in the U.S., after Washington, D.C. ($53,782), Maryland ($42,280), Georgia ($40,804), and Virginia ($39,899). The average federal student debt in the U.S. was $35,099.

According to Forbes, the average student debt in the U.S. for 2024, including federal and private loans, was $28,950.

How much student debt has the Biden Administration forgiven?

According to a release, the government under Biden has approved nearly $138 billion in targeted relief for nearly 4 million borrowers, including:

  • $45.6 billion for 930,500 borrowers through improvements to income-driven repayment

  • $56.7 billion for more than 793,000 borrowers through fixes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness that began in October 2021

  • $11.7 billion for 513,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability

  • $22.5 billion for 1.3 million borrowers through closed school discharges, borrower defense, and related court settlements

  • $1.2 billion for more than 150,000 borrowers enrolled in the SAVE program with $12,000 or less in undergraduate or graduate federal student loans who have been repaying for at least 10 years

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Biden forgives $5.8 billion in student loan debt for public servants