The Biden administration has wiped out $39bn (£29.7bn) in student loans for 804,000 borrowers with debts outstanding for more than 20 years.
The relief is a result of "fixes" the government says it made to the plans.
Qualifying borrowers will be notified if their loans will be discharged in the coming weeks, the Department of Education said.
It comes weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's broader $400bn student loan relief bid.
Friday's move will fix administrative errors that meant some borrowers' payments did not count towards them qualifying for student loan relief, the education department said.
"For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness," US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
Borrowers are eligible for the forgiveness after 20 or 25 years of payments, depending on their plan, officials said.
Some of Mr Biden's political opponents swiftly condemned the announcement.
Mr Biden has taken a series of steps to provide student loan relief to smaller groups via executive actions since he took office.
For instance, last year he cancelled student loan debt for 200,000 borrowers who said they were harmed or defrauded by their universities.