Biden administration cancels another $7.7B in student loans

• Wednesday's debt relief came via three existing programs: Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans.

What they're saying: "From day one of my Administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity," Biden said in a statement.

• "I will never stop working to cancel student debt – no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us," he said.

The big picture: Since the Supreme Court blocked Biden's expansive student debt cancellation plan last year, the administration has continued with relief efforts through existing programs.

• It announced a larger plan last month to provide relief for more than 30 million borrowers by, in part, canceling up to $20,000 of a borrower's accrued interest, regardless of income.
• Under the plan, other borrowers enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan would have all of their interest forgiven.

Yes, but: That plan, too, could face legal challenges. Its critics have argued that student debt relief in general is unfair to taxpayers who repaid their loans or didn't go to college.

• Several Republican-led states announced a lawsuit earlier this year against the Biden administration's SAVE plan, which seeks to provide a faster path to cancellation and has already been used to forgive loans for over 400,000 borrowers.

Go deeper: College costs the biggest barrier for most Americans, survey finds