AANHPI college students will benefit from Biden's relief plan for student debt.

Almost 70% of Asian American college students leave school with thousands of dollars in debt, according to data collected by Education Data Initiative.

Students of all races and ethnicities are breathing a sigh of relief after President Joe Biden announced he will forgive $10,000 in federal student debt for most borrowers, delivering financial relief to millions of Americans. Biden will cancel up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants.

Biden action could affect up to 43 million people including current students and those who have been struggle to pay off their student loans years after graduation and those who took out loans and for whatever reason, didn't earn a degree.

“All of this means people can start finally to crawl out from under that mountain of debt. To get on top of their rent and their utilities. To finally think about buying a home or starting a family or starting a business.”

"This relief is targeted," said Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice. "It will only go to borrowers whose income is less than $125,000 for an individual or $250,000 for a household — meaning that the relief will go to those who need it the most." 

The Department of Education estimates that, among borrowers who are no longer in school, nearly 90% of relief dollars will go to those earning less than $75,000 a year. No individual making more than $125,000 or household making more than $250,000 – the top 5% of incomes in the United States – will receive relief.

FYI more details of President Biden's plan to provide relief on student loans, click here.

Additionally, borrowers working in public service -- that includes medical professionals working for county healthcare, lawyers in government offices, social service employees -- are entitled to earn credit toward debt relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. But because of complex eligibility restrictions, historic implementation failures, and poor counseling given to borrowers, many borrowers have not received the credit they deserve for their public service.

Even though the majority of Asian American students take out loans for college, they 

Student loan debt by race and ethnicity

That fact that borrowers of certain races and ethnicities face exceptional obstacles in their quest for advanced education is universally accepted among academic financial specialists, says Education Data Initiative. Some of the highlights of a report by EDI, include:

• Black and African American bachelor’s degree holders have an average $52,000 in student loan debt.
• 45% of this debt is from student loans for graduate school.
• 40% of Black graduates have student loan debt from graduate school while 22% of White college graduates have graduate school debt.
• Over 50% of Black student borrowers report their net worth is less than they owe in student loan debt.
• At 52%, Asian student borrowers are the most likely to have a net worth that exceeds their student loan debt.
• Asian bachelor’s degree holders are the most likely to have paid off their student loan debt.
• 59% of Asian student borrowers still have educational loan debt.
• 67% of Hispanic and Latino student borrowers have educational debt.
• 70% of White and Caucasian student borrowers have student loan debt.
• Four years after graduation, 48% of Black students owe an average of 12.5% more than they borrowed.
• After that same period, 83% of White students owe 12% less than they borrowed.

Wait and see

Before students begin celebrating, Biden's action will likely be challenged in court. The basis for Biden's action is the HEROE's Act, which was instituted after 9/11. It allows for debt cancellation when it's "in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency."

The "emergency" in this case is the pandemic.

"I have the authority under the HEROES Act to ensure that folks are not worse off after the pandemic than before," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told CBS News. "And we're exercising that to provide targeted loan relief to those who are struggling. We know the pandemic exacerbated disparities. And what we're doing here is making sure we're addressing some loan forgiveness and taking a system that's broken so that more students can have access to college and continue on with their lives."

If the legal basis for Biden's student loan relief is challenged, the case might very likely wind up in the Supreme Court, which already has shown that it is not friendly to initiativesthat might benefit the Democrats.