U.S. student loan relief to cost $30 billion a year over next decade, government says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Education Department said on Thursday it estimates that the one-time student debt relief plan given by President Joe Biden in August will cost an average of $30 billion a year over the next decade.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said this week that Biden’s plan to cancel some student loan debt will cost $400 billion.

Biden said in August the U.S. government will forgive $10,000 in student loans for millions of debt-saddled former college students, keeping a pledge he made in the 2020 campaign for the White House.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; writing by Kanishka Singh)