Over 5 million Americans have seen their student loans canceled under Biden, even after his broader forgiveness plan was blocked.

Just recently, the Education Department wiped out loans for 150,000 borrowers. This was through programs that were already in place before Biden took office. His team really pushed to make the most of these programs, especially after the Supreme Court said no to his new forgiveness plan.
Biden’s been vocal about his efforts, saying his administration is doing historic work to ease student debt and hold bad actors accountable. So far, they’ve canceled a whopping $183.6 billion in loans.
But things might change when Donald Trump steps in as president. He hasn’t laid out his plans yet, but he’s called loan cancellation “vile” and “illegal.” Plus, Republicans have been pretty vocal against Biden’s approach, arguing that taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for those who never went to college or already paid off their loans.
Most of the recent loan cancellations came from a program called borrower defense. This helps students who were misled by their colleges get their loans wiped out. It’s been around since 1994 but really took off after some scandals with for-profit colleges during the Obama years.
Some of the relief also came from programs for borrowers with disabilities and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which erases debt for those in government or nonprofit jobs after 10 years of payments.
A lot of the recent cancellations were for students from schools that are no longer around, like CollegeAmerica and Independence University. These schools were found to have misled students about job prospects and loan terms.
Before Biden, many advocates said the rules for these programs were too complicated, making it hard for borrowers to get help. But Biden’s team loosened some of those rules, making it easier for people to qualify without needing Congress to step in.
For instance, only 7,000 borrowers had their loans canceled through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program before Biden took over. There was so much confusion about who qualified, and many were put in the wrong repayment plans, which didn’t count toward the 10 years needed for cancellation.
During the pandemic, the Biden administration relaxed the rules, and now over a million public servants have had their loans wiped clean.
All these changes were supposed to support Biden’s main plan for student debt relief, which aimed to give up to $20,000 to over 40 million Americans. But after the Supreme Court blocked that, the focus shifted to maximizing relief through existing programs.
As new cancellations became a regular thing, Republicans in Congress accused Biden of overstepping his authority. They fought against his larger forgiveness efforts, but the smaller cancellations kept coming without major legal pushback.
Now that Republicans control both Congress and the White House, they might try to roll back Biden’s changes. It’s still unclear how far they’ll go to tighten the rules on loan cancellations.
Trump had previously suggested getting rid of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, but Congress shot that down. His new plan for a second term hints at ending PSLF and making repayment plans less generous.
Republicans are signaling that reversing Biden’s changes will be a top priority. Recently, Rep. Virginia Foxx criticized Biden’s expansion of borrower defense, claiming he stretched the law to meet his campaign promises. She warned that when Trump takes office, it could be the end of these relief efforts.