Biden administration withdraws proposal to cancel student debt for millions of Americans

The Biden administration on Friday withdrew a suggested plan that would cancel student loan debt for about 38 million Americans. 

“With the time remaining in this administration, the Department is focused on several priorities including court-ordered settlements and helping borrowers manage the final elements of the return to repayment,” the Department of Education said in a statement.

The department said part of the reason all the debt couldn't be forgiven was due to "operational challenges," according to The Hill.

However, the Biden administration did recently approve $4.28 billion in student debt relief for public service workers.

Roughly 55,000 public service workers will have their loans forgiven as a result of the newly approved money. 

Last year, over 615,000 public sector workers had their student loans forgiven by the Biden administration.

In August, the Supreme Court declined to allow the Biden Education Department to put into effect a July 2023 rule, known as the SAVE Plan, created to provide debt relief for lower-income borrowers while challenges to the rule continue in the lower courts, according to SCOTUSblog.com.