The Biden-Harris Administration announced March 21 the release of an additional $5.8 billion in student loan debt relief for 77,700 public service workers, including those in healthcare.
Workers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program make up this class of relief recipients, including teachers, nurses, social workers and firefighters. Eligibility is reserved for governmental employers and nonprofit organizations, and public health is a qualifying public service and applies to physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses in clinical settings.
The recipients have been paying their loans for at least a decade and will have the remainder of debt balances canceled, senior administration officials told Bloomberg. Recipients are scheduled to receive an email from President Joe Biden alerting them about their federal student debt or loan relief.
"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," President Joe Biden said in a statement.
In January, the Biden administration announced it would forgive $4.9 billion in loans for 74,000 borrowers, nearly 44,000 of whom were teachers, nurses, firefighters and other individuals who earned forgiveness after 10 years of public service.
Today's announcement brings the total loan forgiveness approved by the Biden-Harris Administration to $143.6 billion for 3.96 million Americans.