President Joe Biden of the United States announced a student loan forgiveness programme earlier this year. On Monday, October 17, 2022, the US president officially announced that the student loan forgiveness application is now live.
The student loan forgiveness application has been made live on the official website – studentaid.gov. The form is available for people to fill in English and Spanish. The last date to apply submit the application is December 31, 2023.
However, the Biden administration has asked people to apply latest by November 15, 2022 before the pause on federal student loan payment ends. Americans can submit the student loan forgiveness application for the cancellation of undergraduate loans, graduate loans and the Education Department’s Parent plus loans.
President Biden formally announced the launch of the federal application for all Americans seeking student loan forgiveness. As per a CNN report, this programme is expected to provide debt relief to around 43 million borrowers and around 20 million are expected to have a zero-balance debt due to this federal scheme launched by the US Government.
In August 2022, President Biden announced the decision to offer student loan forgiveness and cancel upto USD 10,000 in student loan debt for citizens making less than USD 125,000 in 2020 or 2021 and upto USD 250,000 for married couples. For borrowers who were recipients of the UIS government’s Pell Grant scheme, the relief amount is upto USD 20,000.
In order to claim the benefits of the student loan forgiveness programme, the people must have held student loans federally.
The Biden administration further stated that the applicants who are “more likely to exceed the income cutoff” would have to submit additional information and documents such as a tax transcript. Some borrowers would also be required to pay a certain amount of state tax in lieu of the amount of the student loan debt.
