The action was triggered by the department’s “fixing” of an income-driven repayment arrangement. This is estimated to eliminate $39 billion in federal USA student loans.

In Washington Over 800,000 debtors will have their college loans automatically forgiven, the Education Department announced on Friday.

The department’s “fix” to income-driven repayment arrangements led to the course of action. The overall amount of federal student loan forgiveness is anticipated to be $39 billion.

According to the agency, the change will alleviate administrative problems with the system of income-driven payback. Depending on the plan, debtors of federal student loans are eligible for forgiveness after 20 or 25 years of payments. However, for certain borrowers, qualifying payments that “should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accounted for,” the company stated in a news release.

President Joe Biden’s proposal to cancel up to $20,000 of debt for 43 million federal student loans was rejected by the Supreme Court.