- Written by Madeline Halpert
- BBC News, New York
President Joe Biden has announced that nearly $6bn (about £4.7bn) of student debt will be canceled for 78,000 civil servants.
Teachers, nurses and firefighters are also among those eligible for relief, the White House said.
Biden has canceled $143 billion in debt for nearly 4 million Americans.
Republicans have blasted the Democratic president's debt cancellation, arguing that it ultimately falls on American taxpayers and contributes to the soaring cost of college tuition.
This latest measure will eliminate an average of about $77,000 in student loan debt for 78,000 public servants.
“These public servants have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, they have been denied the relief they are entitled to under the law,” Biden said in a statement.
Approximately 43 million people in the United States have student loan debt, the majority of which is federal loans.
Since the Biden administration's sweeping plan for student debt relief was struck down by the Supreme Court last year, the president has sought to leverage old and new loan repayment plans to reduce debt.
The White House's original plan would forgive up to $20,000 in debt per person, representing more than $400 billion in student debt.
But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Biden did not have the authority to cancel that debt without Congressional approval.
The issue is particularly of interest to young voters, a key group Biden is trying to win over before he faces former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Many young Americans were outraged by the Supreme Court's decision and criticized the Biden administration for not doing more to address student loan issues.
Since then, the White House has been keen to emphasize that Biden has canceled more student loans than any other president and found a way to cancel even more.
The updated debt relief plan applies to government and nonprofit employees in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The plan allows some of these full-time workers to have their debts canceled after making 120 monthly payments.