President Joe Biden approved the cancelation of $9 billion in student loan debt Wednesday (Oct. 4) for 125,000 people who qualify under existing programs, the White House announced.

The move comes as the administration searches for workarounds to tackle the student debt crisis after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the president’s more ambitious plan in June, dashing the hopes of millions with federal student loan debt and forcing them to resume payments.

“President Biden has long believed that college should be a ticket to the middle class, not a burden that weighs on families,” the White House statement said, adding that the “administration has taken unprecedented steps to fix the broken student loan system.”

This latest round of debt relief benefits 53,000 borrowers under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, including teachers and health care workers, and 22,000 borrowers with a total or permanent disability.

About 51,000 borrowers also qualify because they made at least 20 years of payments but didn’t receive the relief they were entitled to. According to CNN, this group’s debt forgiveness stems from a recount of their payments. Past administrative errors caused them to miss out on loan forgiveness.

On Oct. 1, tens of millions with federal student loan debt resumed making payments, ending a more than three-year pause that started with the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

But the Biden administration remains focused on finding ways to keep its promise to tackle the student debt crisis. To date, the administration has approved $127 billion in debt cancellation for more than 3 million borrowers, according to the White House.

USA Today reports that the president will make a second attempt at mass loan forgiveness next week through a committee that meets next week. The members include colleges, borrowers, state attorneys general and student loan servicers. They will discuss how to erase student loan debt on a large scale that would survive legal challenges.

Biden announced his original loan forgiveness plan in August 2022. It would have canceled up to $20,000 of debt for approximately 40 million people, including Black borrowers burdened with a disproportionate amount of federal student debt.

But the court’s conservative majority, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that the plan violated federal law.  Six Republican-led states — Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina — challenged the program's lawfulness.

“The Supreme Court's decision to strike down the President's student debt program is a clear disregard for what millions of Americans need - especially Black Americans,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said then. “Despite today's upsetting ruling, we demand that the Biden Administration delivers on the promise of student loan debt relief.”

Black college graduates borrow at a higher rate than other racial and ethnic groups, with more than 80 percent of Black bachelor’s degree recipients owing an average of $34,000, according to The Institute for College Access and Success. Unsurprisingly, Blacks also default at a higher rate.

Black women are particularly impacted, according to the nonprofit group Education Trust. In addition to system racism, the gender pay gap makes women more at risk of default than men.