Biden Education Department erroneously told 9 million student loan borrowers debt was canceled
Ryan King
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Some 9 million people were erroneously told their student loan forgiveness was approved in a mass email blunder last month, the Department of Education revealed.
The bungled emails had a false subject line that was supposed to say applications for relief were received — not approved. Currently, no one is supposed to get the relief because President Joe Biden’s forgiveness program has been held up in court. To remedy the error, the department has been rapidly churning out corrections.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: MILLIONS TOLD STUDENT LOAN RELIEF WAS APPROVED IN ERROR
“Due to a vendor error, you recently received an email with a subject line indicating your application for the one-time Student Loan Debt Relief Plan had been approved. The subject line was inaccurate,” one email sent Tuesday explained, per CNN.
The text in the body of the faulty emails, which were blasted out on Nov. 22 and 23, contained accurate information. Outside vendor Accenture Federal Services, which made the mistake, attributed the screw-up to human error. Both the department and vendor have been examining their quality control protocols.
“Communicating clearly and accurately with borrowers is a top priority of the department,” an Education Department spokesperson told WJBF.
Biden unveiled the sweeping student loan forgiveness plan back in August. The plan is estimated to cost roughly $240 billion over the next 10 years and could provide alleviation for up to 43 million borrowers while wiping out total debt loads for almost 20 million borrowers, according to the White House.
However, that plan got snarled by a federal judge in November. As a result, cancellations have been placed in limbo, awaiting a Supreme Court decision on the matter. Oral arguments are slated for next February, and a final decision is expected by June next year.
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Over 26 million applications for relief were sent to the Education Department before the program got halted, and the administration has approved about 16 million applications, CNN reported. Approved borrowers have not received relief due to court wranglings.