Trace Urdan
May 19, 2025
Many Americans know of President Biden’s high-profile efforts to forgive large swaths of student loans across broad classes of borrowers, first as part of Covid relief efforts and then as part of the HEROES Act, which was passed by Congress in 2003, giving the Secretary of Education authority to forgive student loans selectively in wartime. Though the Supreme Court ultimately thwarted this broad-based effort, the Biden Administration still managed to forgive approximately $189 billion in student debt for 5.3 million borrowers, an average of $35,660 per individual, a little over 10% of all total outstanding, and more than any previous administration.
This massive undertaking was accomplished under multiple auspices, the largest being Public Service Loan Forgiveness, where, through a more expansive interpretation of the George W. Bush era statute, the administration forgave $78.5 billion at an average of $78,000 (!) per borrower. Other categories included $57.1 billion in a similarly expansive interpretation of the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) program ($39,380 per borrower), $18.7 billion for individuals with total and permanent disabilities ($29,540 per borrower), and $5.5 billion through its own IDR program update, titled SAVE, before it too was blocked in court ($13,285 per borrower).
