![WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 12: Student loan borrowers gather near The White House to tell President Biden to cancel student debt on May 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We, The 45 Million)](https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/GettyImages-1396872828-800x534.jpg)
OAN’s James Meyers
11:10 AM -Thursday, March 21, 2024
President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the White House approved the cancellation of $6 billion in federal student debt for “thousands of public service workers.”
The 78,000 eligible public service workers include nurses, teachers, and firefighters, according to the White House.
“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 statement touting the move.
“From day one of my Administration, I promised to fix broken student loan programs and make sure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” Biden continued. “I won’t back down from using every tool at my disposal to deliver student debt relief to more Americans, and build an economy from the middle out and bottom up.”
Meanwhile, as of June 2023, almost 43.4 million U.S. student loan recipients had $1.63 trillion in outstanding loans, according to the Federal Student Aid website.
This comes after the Biden administration canceled almost $5 billion in debt for 74,000 public-sector borrowers.
Overall, the White House has approved $144 billion in federal loan forgiveness for about 4 million borrowers in total, according to the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, the White House will reportedly email close to 380,000 student loan borrowers to let them know they are on track to have their student debt canceled within two years.
However, other former college students have expressed frustration regarding how their loans have not been paid off while others’ have, accusing Biden of being choosy and unfair.
“So… what? Biden’s just gonna cancel some people’s debt and not everyone’s? How is that fair? It should be everyone or no one,” said one X (Twitter) user.
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