More than 20,000 Arizona residents would see $1 billion in student debt erased under a Biden administration plan unveiled just two weeks after the Supreme Court struck down a previous debt-forgiveness plan.
The Biden administration has begun the process of creating a new plan for widespread loan cancellation and implementing the SAVE Plan, which will cut monthly payments to $0 for millions of borrowers. There will also be a 12-month “on-ramp” period to ease borrowers back into making payments.
For many borrowers, qualifying monthly payments that should have moved them closer to forgiveness were not accounted for, effectively forcing them to make extra payments under their IDR plans.
About 90% of the benefits from Biden's plan will go to families earning less than $75,000 according to the White House, but a group of Republican-led states have sued to block it.
In Arizona, 496,000 people applied or were automatically eligible for relief. Of that 496,000, 314,000 were fully-approved applications sent to loan servicers for discharge.