President Joe Biden announced Wednesday $9 billion in new student loan debt relief for 125,000 borrowers.

White House officials called the move a "key step" in his efforts "to fix the broken student loan system, make college more affordable, and bring the promise of higher education in reach for more Americans."

Another 125,000 student loan borrowers will have $9 billion in student loan debt erased, the Biden administration said Wednesday. 

Those borrowers were already eligible for cancellation through various programs: Public Service Loan Forgiveness for people working as teachers and health care workers, for instance; income-driven repayment plans that link payments to wages and forgive balances after 20 or 25 years of payments; or discharges for those with disabilities.

Federal student loan payments return this month for more than 40 million Americans with the end of the pandemic pause.

Why it matters: After a more than three-year break from payments, experts warn of a messy return to debt repayment for borrowers who collectively owe more than $1 trillion in student loans.

The return of another monthly payment will hurt Americans with student loan debt who tend to be younger, have lower incomes and already spend a higher share of their income.

Student-loan borrowers are finding out that restarting a $1.6 trillion federal program is much more confusing than switching it off.

The future of the Biden administration’s rules to ease the path to student loan forgiveness for people who were defrauded borrowers by their college or whose schools abruptly close is in doubt.

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an injunction to prevent the government from implementing regulations that took effect last month while it considers a lawsuit brought by Career Colleges and Schools of Texas, which represents 70 for-profit colleges. The court will hear the case on Nov. 6.

A federal appeals court on Monday blocked the Biden administration from proceeding with another piece of its student debt relief agenda, a rule that would make it easier for people who are defrauded by their schools to have their loans forgiven.

At the request of a group representing for-profit colleges, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals prevented the rule from taking effect pending the outcome of an appeal to be heard in November.

A federal appeals court granted an injunction to block President Joe Biden's new rules that intend to make it easier for student borrowers to have their debts relieved if they were misled or defrauded by a university.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit granted an injunction request by Career Colleges & Schools of Texas, a group that leads more than 70 for-profit higher education institutions in Texas, while the ruling is under appeal.

In striking down the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program, the Supreme Court ignored one of the most basic principles of law: When the text of a law is clear, it must be followed unless it is unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan on Friday.

While the bombshell ruling will undoubtedly be a blow to borrowers who had hoped — perhaps even expected — they’d have up to $20,000 of their student debt erased, the verdict is unlikely to be consequential for the U.S. economy at large, economists said.

“The Supreme Court decision to strike down loan forgiveness should have no meaningful impact on the economy,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.

The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s obviously unconstitutional attempt to forgive half a trillion in student loan debt. This should surprise nobody, given that virtually everyone admitted the president does not have the authority to do this. (Here is then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stating as much.)