Washington: US President Joe Biden has cancelled $US7.4 billion ($11.4 billion) in student loan debt as he tries to shore up support with young voters who are disproportionately affected by soaring education costs, but who may be drifting away over his policy on Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip.

The latest round of relief is part of a strategy by the White House to take smaller, targeted actions for certain subsets of borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down a far more ambitious plan to wipe out $US400 billion in debt last year.

Biden said this week that he would make another attempt at large-scale debt forgiveness for about 30 million people, despite Republican opposition and legal challenges. But in the meantime, he has been chipping away at student debt by fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.

Saturday’s announcement was the latest such move, affecting about 277,000 people. White House officials said those borrowers would be notified by email.

More than 200,000 of those who qualified had borrowed relatively small amounts originally – $US12,000 or less – and have been making payments through the administration’s income-driven repayment plan, known as SAVE.

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Others who will see relief include teachers, librarians, academics and public safety workers who have been making student loan payments for 10 years under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Another 65,000 borrowers enrolled in other income-driven repayment plans will receive adjustments reducing their debt, said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

So far, the Biden administration has forgiven $US153 billion in debt for 4.3 million borrowers.

“We’ve approved help for roughly 1 out of 10 of the 43 million Americans who have federal student loans,” Cardona told reporters.