White House officials are expected to soon announce the cancellation of up to $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower tied to an income threshold.
According to multiple sources familiar with the discussions, the plan is designed to offer the forgiveness to individuals who earn less than $125,000 per year.
In addition to that baseline of student loan debt forgiveness for individuals who fall under a certain income level, administration officials have also recently discussed the possibility of additional forgiveness for specific subsets of the population, according to sources familiar with internal discussions in the administration.
The announcement could come as early as Wednesday, but it is not clear that a final decision on the details of the announcement — as well as the timing — has been made, and there could always be eleventh hour changes. The White House is also expected to address in the coming days whether to extend again the current pause on federal student loan payments, which is set to expire on August 31.
Payments have not been required on most federal student loans since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the US, greatly affecting the economy. Biden has extended the pause four times, most recently in April, arguing that it was necessary to allow federal student loan borrowers to get back on their feet.