A total of $1.2 billion in federal student loan debt will be automatically discharged for 153,000 borrowers enrolled in President Joe Biden’s “most generous ever” repayment plan, the U.S. Department of Education said on Wednesday.
To be eligible for the latest round of student loan debt cancellation, the borrowers must be enrolled in the new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, dubbed SAVE, have been making at least 10 years of payments, and have originally taken out $12,000 or less for college.
For every $1,000 borrowed above $12,000, a borrower can receive debt discharge after an additional year of payments. For example, those who had an original principal balance of $13,000 can now have their remaining balance wiped out if they’ve been in repayment for 11 years….