Watch live: Biden provides update on plans to cancel $9bn of student debt

Watch live as Joe Biden provides an update on his administration’s plans to cancel $9bn of student debt.

In an update posted on the briefing room section of the White House’s website, the Biden administration said the president has “long believed that college should be a ticket to the middle class, not a burden that weighs on families.”

It added that Mr Biden is taking a “key step forward” in the “promise of higher education in reach for more Americans.”

Under the plans, an additional 125,000 people in the US have been approved for $9bn in debt relief through fixes the Biden administration has made to income-driven repayment (IDR) and public service loan forgiveness, and by cancelling debt for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, the White House said.

The move comes as student loan repayments start again this month after more than three years of hiatus.