It looks like the President Joe Biden Committee’s efforts to forgive student debt are not dead yet after the Trump administration settled with the American Federation of Teachers. Under the agreement, the Education Department will now begin applying some student loan forgiveness to people based on their yearly salaries.
This agreement does not provide full forgiveness, but some forgiveness along with a cheaper repayment plan. AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement “We took on the Trump administration when it refused to follow the law and denied borrowers the relief they were owed. Our agreement means that those borrowers stuck in limbo can either get immediate relief or finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The Trump administration has agreed to resume student loan forgiveness for an estimated 2.5 million borrowers who are enrolled in certain federal repayment plans following a lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers.
Under the agreement reached Friday between the teachers union and the administration, the Education Department will process loan forgiveness for those eligible in certain repayment plans that offer lower monthly payments based on a borrower’s earnings. The government had stopped providing forgiveness under those plans based on its interpretation of a different court decision.
The agreement will also protect borrowers from being hit with high tax bills on debt due to be forgiven this year.