University of Maryland Eastern Shore
National Alumni Association
Cory Turner, NPR
Dec 7, 2021
When President-elect Joe Biden was asked whether student loan cancellation figured into his economic recovery plan, he declared, "It should be done immediately."
"[Student debt is] holding people up," Biden said on Nov. 16, 2020. "They're in real trouble. They're having to make choices between paying their student loan and paying the rent."
On the campaign trail, Biden had pledged to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt per person.
One year later, while Biden has provided hundreds of thousands of borrowers with debt relief, that $10,000 promise remains unfulfilled. Here's a look at why — and what he has done.
Biden has focused on preexisting forgiveness programs
The Biden administration's approach to student loan relief began with improving, extending or expanding a handful of programs that were already on the books.
"We're working really hard to get students the relief that they're entitled to" through these preexisting programs, Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal told NPR on Friday.