The Biden administration forgave $1.2 billion in student debts for more than 150,000 borrowers on Wednesday as part of the White House’s aggressive plan to help Americans paying back their loans.

The move brings the total student loan debt canceled under Biden to nearly $138 billion for nearly 3.9 million borrowers since he took office.

Wednesday’s announcement marks the first group of borrowers to be approved for student loan relief under the Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE) plan’s shortened repayment period and comes six months earlier than previously anticipated.

The Biden administration launched the SAVE plan after the Supreme Court last year blocked the president’s original $400 billion student loan cancelation plan in June. It is one of several alternative efforts the administration is working on to cancel student loan debt.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona standing alongside President Biden at the White House after the Supreme Court blocked the president’s original $400 billion plan to cancel student loan debt

Protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court as the court blocked President Biden’s previous student loan relief plan last June

The SAVE plan is an income driven repayment plan for borrowers who have been making payments for at least ten years and had originally taken out $12,000 or less for college. 

For every $1,000 borrowed above that, borrowers can receive forgiveness after an additional year of payments. All borrowers under the SAVE plan receive forgiveness after 20 or 25 years depending on whether they have loans for graduate school.

President Biden is expected to address the latest student loan debt cancellation during a stop in Los Angeles on Wednesday where he will be joined by some of those benefiting from the plan.

Borrowers who have been approved for relief will begin receiving emails from Biden on Wednesday informing them and letting them know they do not need to take any further action.

To date, more than 7.5 million borrowers have now enrolled in the SAVE plan, with more than 4.3 million having $0 in monthly payments. The Biden administration has touted it as the most affordable income driven repayment plan in history.

‘This is truly a lifeline for borrowers,’ Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said of the latest round of student loan debt forgiveness. ‘The people getting the debt relief announced today have sacrificed and saved for a decade or more to make their student loan payments.’

He claimed many SAVE plan recipients come from lower and middle income backgrounds.

The Biden administration has been working on several approaches to cancel student loan debt after the Supreme Court blocked the previous plan including launching the SAVE plan and going through the rulemaking process

For those who have been approved, borrowers will see it reflected in their accounts as student loan servicers begin to process the debt cancellation in the coming days.

Moving forward, the Education Department will continue to identify and cancel student loan debt under the plan on a regular basis.

Starting next week, the department will also start emailing borrowers who can become eligible for forgiveness if they switch into the SAVE program.

To date, the Biden administration has canceled nearly $138 billion in student loan debt as Americans hold more than $1.7 trillion in student loans.

Some of the steps the White House has taken include changes to the public service loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment programs. They have also canceled debt for more than a million borrowers found to have been defrauded by their schools and for more than half a million borrowers with permanent disabilities.

But while President Biden has vowed to fight for more student loan debt to be canceled, his efforts have not come without criticism.

Some critics have slammed the move to cancel student loan debt arguing it comes at the burden of taxpayers who chose not to take out student loans or pursue expensive college degrees.