FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces New Plans that would Provide Relief to Borrowers Disproportionately Burdened by Student Loan Debt

From Day One President Biden vowed to fix the Federal student loan program and make sure higher education is a ticket to the middle class – not a barrier to opportunity. To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic action to approve debt cancellation for 4 million borrowers, helping these borrowers get more breathing room in their daily lives, access economic mobility, buy homes, start businesses, and pursue their dreams. Today, President Biden is announcing his Administration’s new plans that, if finalized as proposed, would provide debt relief to over 30 million borrowers when combined with actions the Administration has taken over the last four years. These plans would not only help create more financial stability for millions of working and middle-class families, they would also help address the disproportionate debt burden on communities of color and advance racial equity.

These actions are expected to provide significant relief to Black and Latino borrowers, borrowers who attended community college, and borrowers who are financially vulnerable because they took out debt but never had the chance to complete their degree. Not only are Black students more likely to take on student loans than their white peers, but they also end up holding nearly twice as much debt as their white peers four years after graduation. And Latino borrowers are also more likely to default on their student loans compared to white borrowers.

The plans President Biden is announcing today, if finalized as proposed, would deliver some amount of relief to:

The plans announced today would address the disproportionate debt burden on borrowers of color and other vulnerable borrowers.

Black borrowers

Latino Borrowers

Community college borrowers

The plans announced today, together with the Administration’s past actions, will provide relief to more than 30 million borrowers. These plans would fully eliminate accrued interest for 23 million borrowers, cancel the full amount of student debt for over 4 million borrowers, and provide more than 10 million borrowers with at least $5,000 in debt relief or more. With disproportionately high debt burdens, Black and Latino borrowers will get substantial benefits from this relief.