(REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo)

U.S. president Joe Biden on Thursday canceled another $1.2 billion in student debt for 35,000 borrowers, bringing the total number of people to benefit from his debt relief push to 4.76 million.

The beneficiaries qualified under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which enables public sector employees to have federal student loans canceled after a decade. While the program is nearly two decades old, the Biden administration has expanded its scope by making it easier to qualify.

Republicans have called the Democratic president's student loan forgiveness approach an overreach of authority and an unfair benefit to college-educated borrowers while others received no such relief.

Each of the beneficiaries under the plan will receive $35,000 in debt cancellation, the White House said in a statement.

Biden, keen to shore up waning support among young people ahead of the November presidential election, had pledged last year to find other avenues for tackling debt relief after the Supreme Court had blocked his broader plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt.

In May, Biden canceled $7.7 billion in student debt for 160,000 borrowers.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)

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