Student loan debt remains the highest among Black families when compared to other races. According to data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, Black borrowers face notably more student loan debt than their white or Hispanic counterparts. This is why President Joe Biden’s final plan to help alleviate this burden is significant.
On Monday (Jan. 13), Biden announced that his administration had approved federal student loan relief for more than 150,000 borrowers. This means that over 5 million people have had their debt canceled during his administration, he explained in a White House release.
The Education Data Initiative reported last year that Black college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than white college graduates. Four years after graduation, Black students owe an average of 188% more than white students borrowed.
Technically, Biden was unable to implement a broad federal student loan forgiveness program since the Supreme Court denied his original plan in 2023. Instead, his administration focused on revising and expanding federal student loan forgiveness programs that already existed before Biden took office.
Per the release, the 150,000 new beneficiaries of the latest loan forgiveness plan include over 80,000 borrowers who were defrauded or cheated by their schools. It also includes more than 60,000 borrowers with disabilities and over 6,000 public service workers.
Just last month, the Education Department last month withdrew expansive plans to forgive loans to borrowers experiencing extreme financial hardship as Biden prepares to leave the White House.
President-elect Donald Trump — and his congressional supporters — have been vocal opponents of the Biden administration’s attempts to cancel student loan debt.
They believe that the President’s plans would leave people without college degrees dealing with the weight of repayment. Trump has also accused Biden of overstepping the bounds of his executive power, which the Supreme Court confirmed when they ruled his initial plan was an unlawful exercise of presidential power.
“Since Day One of my Administration, I promised to ensure higher-education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and I’m proud to say we have forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in history,” Biden said.