Biden forgives student loans for 78,000 public service workers [Video]

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Thursday it would cancel the student loans of 78,000 people working as teachers, nurses, firefighters and in other public service jobs as part of the president’s initiative to lower student loan debt. 

The Education Department is canceling the borrowers’ loans because they reached 10 years of payments while working in public service, making them eligible for relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Congress created the program in 2007, but rigid rules and missteps by student loan servicers left many borrowers unable to get the cancellation they were promised. The Biden administration loosened some of the rules and retroactively gave many borrowers credit toward their 10 years of payments.

“These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the …