In August, President Biden revealed the Administration's three-part plan for student loan debt forgiveness:
Part 1 is the final extension of the student loan repayment pause which is now set to expire on December 31, 2022 with payments resuming in January 2023.
Part 2 includes $20,000 in forgiveness for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 in forgiveness for students that did not receive Pell Grants. To qualify for forgiveness borrowers must individually earn less than $125,000 or $250,000 for married couples or head of households.
Part 3 proposes a rule change to create a new income-driven repayment plan that would require borrowers to pay no more than 5% of their discretionary income.
To read ACCT's official statement on the announcement, click here. To read President Biden's fact sheet on the changes, click here.
Final Extension of the Student Loan Repayment Pause (Updated December 2022):
The Biden Administration originally announced that the repayment pause would expire in December 2022, however the litigation surrounding one-time student loan debt relief has left millions of borrowers unsure of how much they owe and unable to properly plan to begin repayment. This past November, the Department of Education announced that the repayment pause will be extended until 60 days after litigation over the student loan debt relief program is resolved, if the program has not been implemented and the litigation has not been resolved by June 30, payments will resume 60 days after that.
For additional information on the student loan repayment pause, click here.
One-Time Student Loan Debt Relief (Updated December 2022):
We have created the Do I Qualify For Student Loan Debt Forgiveness? chart to help borrowers determine if and for how much relief they may qualify for. The application for one-time student debt relief opened briefly in the fall of 2022, which saw over 26 million borrowers apply for relief. However, due to the ongoing litigation surrounding one-time student loan debt relief, the Department of Education was forced to freeze the relief and shut down the application. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments for one of the cases this upcoming February, with a decision expected by June. ACCT will continue monitoring these cases and updating this page as verdicts are rendered.
For additional information on the one-time student loan debt relief, click here.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
On Oct. 6, 2021, the Department of Education announced limited time changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Millions of non-profit and government employees who have federal student loans became eligible for loan forgiveness or additional credit for past periods of repayment that would otherwise not qualify for through the Limited PSLF Waiver.
Although the waiver expired on October 31, 2022, the Department recently published new regulations that will go into effect July 1, 2023. These regulations will eliminate many unnecessary barriers to obtaining PSLF credit and will help more borrowers working in public service reach forgiveness.
To learn more about the new PSLF regulations, click here to read the Department’s factsheet.