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Dedicated to Every Student’s Success

Where will Austin Community College be in 2030 |  ACC will be among the premier colleges in the nation — a leader in closing equity gaps, increasing student completion rates, and putting students on guided pathways to reach their educational and career goals. The college’s Strategic Plan is our guide to achieve this vision.

What is the Strategic Plan |  ACC’s Strategic Plan is a comprehensive plan that sets the agenda for the next three to five years as we build upon our work to achieve equity in higher education. Developed in collaboration with our community, ACC’s Strategic Plan includes four overarching goals that align with ACC’s focus on student success. The Strategic Plan provides clear targets to measure our ability to serve students and help all areas of the college remain focused on developing strategies to reach common goals and improve student success. When our students succeed, lives improve, the workforce is stronger, and our community thrives.

Planning Next Steps |  The college’s current Strategic Plan (linked below) was originally scheduled to end on December 2021. However, due to the pandemic and the resulting shifts in the way we teach and learn, the ACC Board of Trustees approved an extension to the plan to allow time for the college to evaluate long-term impacts of the pandemic and identify lasting solutions. The current Strategic Plan will now end on August 31, 2023. A new Strategic Plan will begin September 1, 2023. Work to develop ACC’s next Strategic Plan launched in fall 2022. Learn more about strategic planning .

2017-2021 Strategic Plan

1. Equity & Access

Increase annual unduplicated enrollment at ACC to 85,000 students by 2030 through equity focused connection and entry processes.

• Support all ACC students in achieving their educational goals by identifying and removing barriers.
• Attract a diverse student population by ensuring that marketing, recruitment, and enrollment strategies are equitable, and designed to support student access and success.
• Develop partnerships that provide equitable opportunities for high school students.
• Ensure instructional programs, academic support, and student support initiatives are designed to serve a diverse student population.
• Advance diversity, inclusiveness, equity, and social justice through internal and external communication, collaboration, and practices.
• Ensure accountability through active and continuous analysis of data on equity and access.

2. Persistence & Engagement

Develop an equitable and inclusive learning and student support environment that increases fall-to-fall persistence rates to 58 percent for all students.

• Continually improve instructional programs with an emphasis on equity and inclusion.
• Provide equity focused student services support that address the diverse financial, social, and personal needs of all students.
• Develop learning environments that encourage equity and inclusion and increase diverse student engagement.
• Create an environment of excellence, equity and inclusion for all faculty, staff and administrators.

3. Completion & Transition to Employment/Transfer

Achieve equitable results in completion and increase annual credential awards to 15,000 by 2030 to improve transfer and employment outcomes for all ACC students.

• Increase credential attainment and close gaps for underrepresented students enrolled at ACC.
• Provide services/resources to address barriers to transfer so that all students may pursue baccalaureate options.
• Provide career services to students to increase equitable employment and facilitate their transition to the workplace.
• Increase collaboration with community, government and industry partners, who appreciate and encourage diversity to advance inclusiveness in the regional economy and community.

4. Effective & Efficient Operations and Infrastructure

To ensure an organizational environment that promotes equitable student and employee success through effective and efficient operations and infrastructure.

• Improve communications for all stakeholders.
• Formalize selection and integration of end-to-end technology processes and solutions.
• Develop comprehensive and equitable human resource management programs.
• Optimize operating efficiencies and effectiveness.
• Enhance the learning and working environment with equitable and accessible facilities.
• Increase collaboration with service providers who appreciate and encourage diversity, equity and inclusion in their business practices.
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ACC 2017-2021 Strategic Plan

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Current information regarding where ACC is currently trending for each of the goals in the Strategic Plan.

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Dr. Mary Harris Vice Chancellor, Institutional Effectiveness & Grant Development [email protected]

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2023 - 2028 Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan 2023-2028 Goal 3 Strategy 1 Research Brief Analysis and Data

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

In his fourth and last book before his assassination, “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community” (1967, p. 209), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observes:

“Universities adapting to the new needs of the day must learn how to develop the abilities of people who have had trouble with school in their youth and have not earned their credentials. They should be trained on the job, get university credit for their experience, learn in relevant courses and develop a liberal-arts knowledge that is built around their concerns. We need what S.M. Miller has called ‘second-chance universities.’A democratic educational system requires multiple doors.”

While Dr. King wrote those words decades ago, they remind higher education, particularly community colleges, of our civil rights imperative. We need to keep multiple doors of opportunity open for our students. Students deserve access to teaching and learning opportunities that help them follow their dreams. It is our charge to offer students different paths to choose from, guided by the intelligent and generous support of the entire college community. 

The responsibility to provide a just and equitable educational experience is a through line in this 2023–2028 Strategic Plan. Its six goals and 21 strategies were developed through an evidence-based, participatory process to offer mission-aligned ways our campus community and external stakeholders can collaborate toward our shared interests in student success for all. Our aspirations for the impact of this plan extend city-wide. Our student-centered and equity-focused agenda will help our University make progress toward the goals, initiatives, and targets outlined in CUNY Lifting New York, 2023–2030 system-wide strategic plan.  

I am most proud of how this plan balances supporting students intellectually and practically. We understand we need to build students’ sense of belonging and community on campus, alongside making sure they have the resources they need to stay in college and find upwardly mobile careers to support themselves and their families. However, as a college, our core purpose is engaging students academically. Our academic offerings must teach students how to think and learn. All students, no matter their socioeconomic status, should have the right to be part of an intellectual community. They deserve opportunities to develop their passion for knowledge within fields of study well beyond what they imagined when they first walked in our doors. 

This plan is a flexible, living document that turns these values into action via an annual process of planning and reflection that divisions, departments and units will participate in. It remains true to our mission, offers ways to improve the student academic experience, and builds our capacity to give all our students options once they leave us. What appears on the following pages champions community interests too, articulating multiple pathways by which community residents can come to us and benefit from our offerings. 

As we mark our 55th anniversary, we now have the roadmap we need to serve as an ongoing source of learning and mobility in the South Bronx. 

HOSTOS PLAN FRAMEWORK 2023–2028: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This strategic plan was developed via a yearlong participatory process through which hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders participated.

SIX GOALS AND 21 STRATEGIES

The following are our defined areas of focus for the next five years.

GOAL 1: Equitable access to higher education at Hostos for our diverse student population

Implement a comprehensive and integrated First Year Experience (FYE) program for all Hostos students.

Offer an integrated and multi-phased student advisement model.

Effectively communicate student support resources to all students.

Strengthen students’ ability to finance their higher education.

GOAL 2: Build a culture of justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion at Hostos

Increase JDEI-related education opportunities for faculty and staff.

Institutionalize JDEI-related policies, processes, and structures.

Encourage faculty to establish a more culturally diverse, inclusive pedagogy and curriculum as a requirement for all programs while respecting academic freedom.

Institute JDEI-related climate assessment practices.

Strengthen inclusion, belonging, and equity of experiences for student constituencies experiencing inequitable outcomes.

GOAL 3: Promote English and Math learning

Facilitate successful student navigation through Gateway courses.

Build student desire to pursue further learning in English and Math.

GOAL 4: Academic programs that balance intellectual growth and workforce preparedness

Ensuring progression of intellectual growth in Gen. Ed. coursework.

Strengthen infrastructure of Liberal Arts degrees and options to make Liberal Arts a degree of choice.

Strengthen experiential learning and career preparation across majors.

Measure and develop foreign language and technological competencies across majors.

Develop the institutional infrastructure to deliver quality online academic programs.

GOAL 5: Increase student socioeconomic mobility

Increase career exploration and placement support for Hostos students.

Strengthen transfer to BAs and beyond.

GOAL 6: Champion social justice for the South Bronx

Strengthen systems for mission-based strategic collaboration across sectors.

Expand Hostos’ arts and culture offerings for students and the broader community.

• Strengthen K-12 partnerships to support career and admission pathways into Hostos.

PLAN IMPLEMENTATION AND ASSESSMENT

At Hostos, we have a robust operational planning system in place that is described in detail in the College’s 2022 Self Study. This involves the creation of annual overarching operational plans that share divisional priorities for each year, which then inform unit-based plans, called A-PARTs. Operational planning and A-PARTs will now align with this new college-wide strategic plan. Each year, all academic and non-academic units across the College will articulate their strategic plan-related activities, reporting out progress multiple times each year, and using year-to-year progress to inform future work.

In addition to undertaking divisional processes to plan, reflect and make adjustments to actions, college-wide leaders will similarly gather to set priorities and discuss progress, so that the course of action can continuously adjust and improve. This includes progress toward quantitative and qualitative measures, including:

Strategy progress indicators (SPIs) , which represent study areas to help Hostos faculty, staff, and administrators track if and how the activities undertaken are having their intended impact. The SPIs are included in the detailed plan narrative.

Measurable college-wide key performance indicators (KPIs) , which represent indicators of progress toward the collective activities of this plan. These are largely pulled from the CUNY Performance Management Process (PMP) indicators, which are tracked across CUNY colleges.

Each year, based on the College’s operational planning process, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Research, and Assessment (OIERA) will take the lead in tracking those SPIs connected to where the work in the operational plan is most concentrated. KPIs will also be tracked annually. A KPI public dashboard will be created and consistently updated to show five-years of data for each KPI. SPI data that is more quantitative will also be reported via the dashboard. Progress toward SPIs that are more qualitative in focus will be shared via research briefs on a rolling basis each year. 

Procurement Services

Doing business with new college of florida.

Access to campus, and most importantly buildings, must be coordinated with the department receiving the goods or services.

New College of Florida is dedicated to promoting fair and open competition in the public procurement process. We continue to work with and communicate to the NCF community on a continuing basis to emphasize the importance of diversity in procurement.

The College embraces the idea of a diverse supplier base and its positive impact on the local business community and the public at large. Procurement Services helps to ensure that we continue to seek new supplier sources to fulfill College requirements and that minority, women and service-disabled veteran-owned small business enterprises have the appropriate information and support to compete for purchasing and contracting opportunities.

We appreciate your continued interest in doing business with New College of Florida.

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The duties of the Contractor Ombudsman include acting as an advocate for contractors who may be experiencing problems in obtaining timely payment(s) from the College my  be contacted at (941) 487-4668.

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New College of Florida is now using GovQuotes e-quoting platform for requests for quotes under $75,000.  As part of this important initiative, we ask that your organization register on GovQuotes as soon as possible.  Once you are registered, when NCF posts a request for quotes you will be instantly notified and can respond in less than 60 seconds.  It is free to register and easy to use.

Registration Instructions

1. log in to GovQuote 2. Create a free account (top right corner) 3. Input your contact information and a few items regarding your business/service and set up a password 4. You will receive an email confirmation once the registration is complete and you will be asked to verify the information

Once registered, click  here  to see eRFQ’s posted on NCF’s page hosted by GovQuote.

For assistance on creating your account, setting up your categories, and much more, please visit the GovQuote Help Center at help.govquote.us . Help chat specialists are also online Mon. – Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.

If you have questions specifically related to NCF please reach out to your contact at NCF or to the Procurement Services Department.

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RFP- 2025 Needs Assessment and Market Analysis

Introduction/overview  .

The services sought by this Request for Proposals (RFP) are primarily to inform the strategic planning and development of the City’s upcoming 2025-29 Consolidated Community Development Plan (Consolidated Plan). The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires local jurisdictions to prepare a Consolidated Plan in order to receive federal housing and community development funding under the entitlement formula grant programs administered by HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development, such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA).

The City of Rochester is seeking proposals from qualified Consultants to fulfill one or both of the two services sought by this RFP:

• Preparation of a Needs Assessment and Market Analysis
• Community Engagement Services

Respondents may choose to submit a proposal for only one of the services, and doing so will not negatively impact the evaluation of their proposal. These two services are related, and may inform one another, but are not required to be conducted by the same firm, nor with any formal interaction between the selected Consultants if conducted separately.

Respondents are reminded to thoroughly review the RFP document and all associated documentation for full detail on proposal requirements.  Note that all deadlines are firm and final.

RFP Downloads

• RFP Main Document 
• Respondent Questions and City Responses (to be posted on or by April 24, 2024)

Milestone Date/Deadline* Release of RFP April 5, 2024   Pre-Proposal Conference via Zoom April 17, 2024 at 12:00pm Written Questions Due to City Contact April 19, 2024 by 5:00pm Answers posted to RFP website April 24, 2024 RFP Submission Deadline May 3, 2024 by 4:00pm Proposal Evaluation M ay 2024 Interviews (if applicable)   Weeks of May 13 and May 20 Notification of Selected Consultant   May 24, 2024 Recommended Consultant(s) Submitted to City Council for Approval June 25, 2024 City Council Authorization of Agreement(s) July 23, 2024 Final Contract Deliverables Due to City Early 2025

Pre-proposal conference.

On April 17, 2024 at 12:00pm, City staff will conduct a pre-proposal conference via Zoom to explain/clarify requirements and respond to questions. There is no requirement for potential respondents to attend the pre-proposal conference nor obligation by the City to provide information from the conference to parties who fail to attend.

Please register at this link:  https://cityofrochester.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mUXmK7bXQcGSJF826Zftfw

Communication

Question responses and question deadline, submission information and deadline    .

An electronic copy of the proposal and all its attachments must be received no later than  4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 3, 2024. Please review the RFP document for full detail on proposal requirements. Only complete proposals submitted prior to the deadline will be evaluated. 

Submissions will only be accepted via upload to the following ShareFile link:

https://cityofrochester.sharefile.com/r-rf576e50323134d75bf846cbff435a953

Watch CBS News

Biden's new student loan forgiveness plan could help 30 million borrowers. Here's who would qualify.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

April 9, 2024 / 10:48 AM EDT / CBS News

President Joe Biden once again is trying to deliver widespread student debt forgiveness, with a new plan unveiled on Monday that could help about 30 million borrowers erase some or all of their college loans. 

The latest attempt at broad debt relief comes less than a year after the Supreme Court blocked Biden's previous attempt to help student borrowers, when the court's  June 2023 ruling denied up to $20,000 in forgiveness to roughly 40 million Americans. 

Biden, who had made student loan relief a major campaign pledge, unveiled the new plan on Monday, describing it as potentially "life changing" for millions of Americans. About 43 million people are carrying $1.7 trillion in student debt, a burden that some borrowers and their advocates say hampers their ability to buy a home or achieve other financial milestones. 

"While a college degree still is a ticket to the middle class, that ticket is becoming much too expensive. Much too expensive," Biden said an event at Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin. "The ability for working and middle-class folks to repay their student loans has become so burdensome that a lot can't repay it for even decades after being in school."

Here's what to know about Biden's new plan and who would qualify. 

How is this plan different from the one struck down by the Supreme Court?

The new plan relies on a different law to provide debt relief to student borrowers. 

The previous plan relied on the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, or HEROES Act, a pandemic-era stimulus package. The Supreme Court ruled that law didn't provide the Biden administration with the authority to forgive student debt. 

The new plan turns to an older law, the Higher Education Act, which allows the Secretary of Education to "compromise, waive or release" federal student loans. It's through this mechanism that the Biden administration is tackling its new debt relief program. 

Who will qualify for debt forgiveness under the new plan?

There are 5 major groups of borrowers who could benefit under the new plan. 

• 2.5 million borrowers who have been in repayment for 20 years or more. 

The Biden administration said people with only undergraduate debt could qualify for forgiveness if they first began repaying their loans at least 20 years ago, or on or before July 1, 2005. Borrowers with graduate school debt would qualify if they first began repaying their loans 25 years ago, or on or before July 1, 2000. 

Borrowers don't have to be enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan to qualify, the White House said. Both direct loans and direct consolidation loans would be covered.

• People with debt who attended "low-financial-value programs"

College is supposed to provide its graduates with the skills to achieve higher-income careers, but there are some programs that have left people in debt but without a marketable degree, such as some offered by for-profit colleges like the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges .

The new plan would cancel student debt for loans from colleges or programs that lost their eligibility to participate in the Federal student aid program or were denied recertification because they cheated students, the White House said. Borrowers who also attended colleges that don't provide "sufficient value," such as leaving grads without the ability to earn more than a high school grad, would also be eligible for relief. 

• People experiencing hardship in paying back their loans.

Borrowers who are experiencing hardship that hampers their ability to repay their loans could also qualify for forgiveness. Although the White House didn't specify the financial threshold for qualifying under this pathway, it said this could cover borrowers at high risk of defaulting on their student loans or who are grappling with issues like medical debt.

• 25 million borrowers whose balances ballooned because of interest.

Some borrowers have seen their balances grow due to a financial issue called "negative amortization," in which a person's loan balance keeps growing despite their consistently making payments. Under the plan, roughly 25 million people who have experienced this issue could get up to $20,000 of their interest canceled. 

• 2 million low- and middle-income borrowers who qualify for forgiveness but haven't applied.

The plan would also provide debt relief for about 2 million low- and middle-income borrowers who qualify for programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness or income-driven repayment plans but haven't applied for them.

"No application will be needed for borrowers to receive this relief if the plan is implemented as proposed," the White House said.

What are the next steps to getting the plan approved? 

The Education Department said it plans to release a formal proposal in the "coming months." That would usually be followed by a public comment period of 60 days. Then if the rule is finalized by November 1, it would usually take effect the following July — in this case, July 2025.

But the Higher Education Act authorizes the education secretary to fast-track rules for "early implementation" in some cases. The Biden administration recently  used that power  to accelerate student loan cancellation offered through a new federal repayment plan. Invoking that authority could allow Biden to start canceling debt later this year.

When could the new plan go into effect?

That's not known yet because the plan has to get pass some additional hurdles before becoming effective, as noted above. Asked by reporters when U.S. student loan recipients might see their interest balances canceled, officials said the forgiveness could happen starting "early this fall."

Could the plan be challenged in court?

Yes, conservative opponents are expected to challenge Biden's plan in court.

Republicans have repeatedly fought Biden's plan for student loan cancellation, saying it's an unfair benefit shouldered by taxpayers who repaid their loans or didn't go to college. Opponents say the Supreme Court was clear that widespread loan cancellation must come from Congress.

If Biden's plan faces a lawsuit, courts could order the administration to halt cancellation until legal questions are sorted out. That scenario could leave the plan on hold beyond the November presidential election. Even if it survives legal challenges, a Donald Trump victory would spell almost certain doom for Biden's plan.

— With reporting by the Associated Press.

• Student Debt
• Student Loan

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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Biden promises student loan relief as early as this fall through new plan

The president, vice president and others plan to fan out across the country this week to trumpet the administration's boldest student debt relief plan since the supreme court's rebuke last summer..

President Joe Biden’s administration gave a much-anticipated preview Monday of his final plan to bring student debt forgiveness to millions of Americans. 

More than 4 million student loan borrowers − many of whom have been paying down their debt for 20 years or more − could see their debt fully canceled under the proposal, according to the White House. In addition, more than 10 million borrowers could get $5,000 or more in relief.

Biden also hopes to eliminate interest past the original loan amounts of 23 million borrowers.

Though experts say the regulations aren’t expected to fully take effect until July of next year at the earliest, the Department of Education is considering taking actions to expedite parts of the plan, which could bring relief to some borrowers as soon as this fall. 

The announcement represents Biden's most aggressive action yet trying to work around the Supreme Court’s rebuke of his first student loan relief gambit, which would have canceled up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of low- and middle-income borrowers.

The final regulation hasn’t been released and it isn't likely to be set in stone for months. The White House’s eagerness to promote it at this in-between moment underscores how central student loan forgiveness has become in Biden’s reelection effort. 

Biden and his surrogates – including Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff – will fan out across the U.S. on Monday to tout the proposal. 

At an event Monday in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin, Biden argued that student loan payments too often prevent Americans from spending money that could otherwise stimulate the economy. The gains he projects from his forgiveness plan would far outweigh the costs, he said. 

“That’s not hyperbole,” he said. “That’s the truth.”

After months of talks, student loan panel greenlights plan

Administration officials say they’re confident the plan will pass legal muster. But potential court challenges could derail the federal government’s timeline for waiving debt. Meanwhile, the bungled rollout of a new college financial aid form has prompted Republicans such as Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., to criticize the Education Department for prioritizing student loan forgiveness.

“It seems the reason students don’t know what schools they can afford this year is because Biden’s Department of Education is spending its time concocting student loan schemes instead of fixing the mistakes they’ve already made on FAFSA," Cassidy said in a statement Monday.

The Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, said the latest attempt at student loan forgiveness is illegal, given the Supreme Court's ruling last year.

"The Biden administration is lawlessly ignoring the Supreme Court and Congress by launching another massive student loan bailout program," Elaine Parker, the organization's president, said in a statement Monday. "Biden has made it clear that he won't respect this decision. He is acting as a King, not a president." 

On a call with reporters Sunday, Cardona said the administration remains "unapologetic" about its aggressive debt cancellation strategies. 

"It means breathing room," he said. "It means freedom from feeling like your student loan bills compete with basic needs like grocery or health care." 

High-profile Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and student loan relief advocates commended the White House's proposal.

Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, said the plan provides a "road map" for the administration to deal with "a hostile Supreme Court majority captured by right-wing special interests."

The surest path to relief, she said in a statement, is to "call the high court’s bluff by aggressively using the full power of the law and delivering for working people."

Biden’s first attempt at delivering broad student loan forgiveness relied on exercising his emergency authority during the COVID-19 pandemic. Legal challenges halted the plan before it got off the ground, though, and last summer the Supreme Court struck it down.

The president immediately pledged to come up with a Plan B. Rather than use his emergency powers, he promised to seek changes to federal higher education law, triggering a process that involved a lot more government red tape.

After months of sometimes contentious meetings, a panel of student loan experts greenlighted parts of Biden’s new plan in February.

Who could get relief? Biden's student loan relief plan would help borrowers with old loans, ballooning interest

Who could get student loan forgiveness under Biden’s new plan?

Biden’s old plan hit legal snags because it would have relieved the student loan debt for broad swaths of borrowers. His new plan makes similar promises but in different ways.

Borrowers experiencing specific forms of "hardship," such as big expenses for child care and medical bills, could get their debt entirely canceled if they fill out an application. The Education Department also hopes to use government data to calculate which borrowers are likely to default on their loans. They could have their debt canceled, too.

Individual borrowers who make $120,000 a year or less could see all the extra interest on their loans forgiven if they enroll in Biden’s income-driven repayment plan. In addition, people in repayment for at least 20 years may also have their balances wiped.

Biden focuses on debt relief as election, lawsuits loom

Because student loans are a top issue for voters, Biden is keen on finalizing the new rules as soon as possible.

Still, Monday's announcement won’t be the end of the story. Legal challenges are likely – Biden’s conservative opponents have been poised to sue the administration over student loan forgiveness efforts at every turn. 

In late March, attorneys general in nearly a dozen red states sued in federal court over Biden’s signature student loan repayment initiative. The income-driven plan, known as Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, was launched last fall and has led to the cancelation of balances for tens of thousands of participants. 

When news began percolating Friday that Biden was hinting at more student debt relief this week, critics were quick to pounce.

"The Biden administration is once again looking to have a huge, unilateral – and hence unconstitutional – student debt cancellation," Neal McCluskey of the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, said on X, citing a Wall Street Journal article that first reported the news. 

Deep look: Biden promised to make student loan forgiveness in bankruptcy court easier. But has he?

What student loan debt has Biden already canceled?

The administration has already used several other creative levers to relieve roughly $146 billion in student loans. Those efforts include:

• Nearly $46 billion for about 900,000 borrowers through one-time fixes to their income-driven repayment plans.
• About $62.5 billion for up to 872,000 borrowers through Public Service Loan Forgiveness fixes.
• More than $22.5 billion for 1.2 million borrowers who attended predatory or defunct schools.
• Close to $12 billion for several hundred thousand borrowers with disabilities that make it difficult for them to pay off their loans. 

Roughly 4 million borrowers have had student loans forgiven thanks to policies or changes implemented under Biden.

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Biden seeks student debt relief for millions

Sequoia Carrillo

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participates in an event at Dartmouth College in January. Steven Senne/AP hide caption

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participates in an event at Dartmouth College in January.

The Biden administration unveiled a new set of plans on Monday that would eliminate student debt for millions of Americans. The administration says that, if fully implemented, it would bring the number of borrowers who've seen some or all of their debt forgiven during the president's term to more than 30 million.

The new plan, aiming to supplant an earlier version that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in June , offers targeted relief to specific groups of borrowers, notably those who've carried debt for many years, and those struggling to make payments. And many borrowers, regardless of income, could see relief from high interest balances.

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the new proposals will fulfill a promise the president made while a candidate in 2020. The relief offered, he added, will mean "breathing room" for many borrowers. "It means freedom from feeling like your student loan bills compete with basic needs like grocery or health care."

The Student Loan Restart

Education dept. fast-tracks forgiveness for borrowers with smaller student loans.

The announcement spelled out efforts aimed at four groups of borrowers: those who owe more money than they did at the start of their repayment, borrowers who started paying more than 20 years ago, those already eligible for existing loan forgiveness or discharge programs but haven't yet applied, and borrowers facing economic hardship.

Addressing "runaway interest"

More than 25 million borrowers, the administration said, owe more in student loans now than they took out originally, due to what Cardona called "runaway interest." The first element of the new plan would allow any borrower, regardless of their income, to cancel up to $20,000 in interest.

In addition, low and middle-income borrowers who are enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan would have all of their interest forgiven. This group of borrowers includes single borrowers earning $120,000 or less a year, and married borrowers who make $240,000.

If the plans go through as proposed, there would be no application necessary.

The administration estimates that this proposal would forgive some interest balances for 25 million borrowers, with 23 million receiving full forgiveness on their interest. Currently, about 43 million Americans have some form of student loan debt.

Automatic discharge for eligible borrowers

Since Biden took office, several student loan programs have been revamped or re-negotiated to help ease borrowers' debt, though many still require borrowers to apply. (The programs can be dense, but NPR has previously reported on these programs and how to navigate them: including the SAVE program , public service loan forgiveness, and closed schools discharge .)

As the administration noted in its announcement, not every borrower who qualifies for these programs has applied, with more than 2 million eligible borrowers who have not done so.

Under the proposed plan, qualifying borrowers would no longer have to enroll to receive forgiveness. The Education Department plans to use use data it already has to identify those borrowers, and automatically credit their accounts.

Relief for long-time borrowers and those experiencing hardship

The new proposals would also help long-term borrowers. According to the Education Department, more than 2.5 million borrowers have carried student loan debt for more than two decades. Under the plan, borrowers carrying undergraduate debt would qualify for forgiveness if they started repayment on or before July 1, 2005. Borrowers with graduate school debt would qualify if they started repayment on or before the same date in 2000.

In keeping with the theme of these announcements, borrowers would not need to be enrolled in any plan to qualify. The relief would be automatic.

A separate component would help those experiencing economic hardship. Some of this relief would be also happen automatically – for example, if a borrower is at a high risk of defaulting on their student loans. Other relief would require an application. The administration says borrowers who are struggling with medical debt or child care could apply for this program, if it is implemented.

A new legal foothold for sweeping debt relief

The Biden administration has made multiple attempts at discharging student loan debt since taking office. Perhaps most notably in 2022: the president announced widespread relief of up to $20,000 for qualifying borrowers. Millions of borrowers filled out the form to opt-in to the program, but the project was put on hold due to legal challenges. The Supreme Court struck down that plan in June of 2023.

Biden cancels nearly $6 billion in student debt for public service workers

This new approach has been in the works for some time, as the Education Department has been undergoing what's called "negotiated rule-making" to develop a new avenue for debt relief since the original plan was overturned in June. They've been hearing from stakeholders, advocates, and critics in advance of this announcement.

It's expected the new proposals will take some time before eligible borrowers can begin to see their debt eliminated. The Education Department must gather public comment on the proposal before issuing a final version of its plan.

The plan will likely face legal challenges as well, though though the rulemaking process may put this effort on stronger legal ground than the first debt-relief plan.

What to know about Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan

President Biden is forging a new path to reduce or eliminate federal student loan balances for tens of millions of borrowers, holding firm to a campaign promise to ease the burden of college debt.

The proposed forgiveness plan announced Monday is an alternative to the sweeping $400 billion debt relief program that Biden announced in 2022 and the Supreme Court blocked last summer. Since that court defeat, the Biden administration has worked through a negotiated rulemaking process to craft a regulation that achieves large-scale debt cancellation, albeit with a much more targeted approach than the last plan.

The Education Department will release a draft rule on the forgiveness plan to solicit public comment in the coming months. But the Biden administration is releasing more details of how the proposal will accomplish the president’s goal of sweeping debt reduction.

Here’s what we know.

What does Biden’s student loan relief plan do?

The new plan will expand federal student loan relief to several categories of borrowers. It will eliminate up to $20,000 in accrued interest for borrowers who owe far more than they originally borrowed because of unpaid interest. Borrowers could get all of their interest wiped away if they are enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan and have an annual income under $120,000 for an individual or under $240,000 for couples. The White House estimates that 25 million people will benefit from this feature of the new plan, including 23 million who could have their unpaid interest completely forgiven.

Once the plan is finalized, another 2 million borrowers could automatically have their loans canceled because they’re eligible for existing forgiveness programs, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness , but never applied. The proposed plan will also automatically cancel the loans of people who have been in repayment on undergraduate loans for at least 20 years, and graduate loans for 25 years or more. It would also forgive the debt of borrowers who attended career training programs that led to high debt loads or low earnings.

A fifth category of borrowers would receive debt relief if they are facing hardships , such as high medical debt or child-care expenses, that prevent them from repaying their student loans. The specific terms of each category will be fleshed out in the formal rule due out soon.

The administration plans to roll out the interest education feature this fall, and the remaining features could be implemented next summer.

Who is eligible for student loan forgiveness?

The majority of Americans with federally held student loans will qualify for some level of relief under the new plan. People with privately held federal loans originated through the defunct Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program would also benefit from some aspects of the proposal.

Those commercial FFEL borrowers would receive forgiveness if they entered repayment on or before July 1, 2000, or are eligible but have not yet applied for a closed school discharge — a form of debt cancellation for borrowers whose schools abruptly close. Such borrowers would also be eligible for debt relief if they have loans associated with a college that lost access to federal student aid because of high loan default rates, according to the Education Department.

Do I need to apply for this loan forgiveness?

While the specifics of the plan are still being hashed out at the Education Department, the Biden administration said the goal is for the vast majority of the relief to be automatic.

I was approved for loan forgiveness in the old plan. Will I qualify this time?

It depends on whether you fit any of the five categories for loan forgiveness.

How is this different from the plan rejected by the Supreme Court?

Biden’s 2022 student loan forgiveness plan relied on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (Heroes) Act of 2003, which lets the secretary of education “alleviate the hardship that federal student loan recipients may suffer as a result of national emergencies.” The president argued that the coronavirus pandemic created economic hardship for borrowers that required government intervention of up to $20,000 in loan cancellation for 40 million borrowers. But in striking down the debt plan , a majority of Supreme Court justices said the Heroes statute was not designed for policy with such a “staggering” economic impact.

This time, instead of the 2003 law, the Biden administration anchored its new plan with authority in the 1965 Higher Education Act, which allows the education secretary to compromise, waive or release loans under certain circumstances. Critics of Biden’s plan question whether the 1965 law permits expansive debt relief envisioned by the administration, and note that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in his opinion last year that the act can be used to cancel debt in “certain limited circumstances.”

The Biden administration said the new plan is composed of interventions that address specific circumstances in ways that are covered by the Higher Education Act. The president is confident he is acting within the scope of the law, according to the White House.

Are private loans eligible?

Loans originated and held by banks and other private entities are not eligible for the new forgiveness plan. But federal loans held by private companies are eligible for some components.

Student loans

The impact of student loan repayments : A technical loophole is helping some parents lower their student loan payments . The ending of the student loan payment pause has left some borrowers anxious and confused .

What are my student loan repayment options? Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary shares what to focus on as student loan payments resume and why she says President Biden’s new SAVE student loan income-driven plan is a game changer .

What’s next for student loan debt relief? Biden is forging ahead on a new path to narrower student loan relief after the Supreme Court rejected his earlier loan forgiveness plan . Meanwhile, conservative groups sued to block Biden’s effort to provide $39 billion in forgiveness to longtime borrowers.