President Joe Biden (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Do you qualify for more than $2.3 billion of student loan forgiveness?
Here’s what you need to know — and what it means for your student loans.
Student Loans
Since becoming president in January, President Joe Biden has cancelled $2.3 billion of student loans for more than 110,000 student loan borrowers. America already has reacted in different ways to Biden cancelling student loans. Biden may not stop here—it’s possible that he cancels more student loans, either on a piecemeal basis for targeted groups of student loan borrowers, or on a wide-scale basis as progressive Democrats have hoped. The good news is that Biden already has approved student loan cancellation today. Therefore, it’s important to check whether you qualify for any student loan cancellation that is available now:
Student loan cancellation: $1 billion of student loans
First, Biden cancelled $1 billion of student loans for 72,000 student loan borrowers. How do you qualify for $1 billion of student loan cancellation? Here’s how:
- Your college or university misled or defrauded you, or your school closed permanently;
- You applied for student loan cancellation under borrower defense to student loan repayment forgiveness;
- You proved to the U.S. Department of Education that your school misled or defrauded you, or that your school closed permanently;
- You suffered financial harm; and
- You already got some student loan cancellation, but not all your student loans were cancelled.
How to get student loan forgiveness through borrower defense to repayment
What if you are not one of the 72,000 student loan borrowers, but you believe you were mislead by your school? You can contact the U.S. Department of Education or your student loan servicer, and then you should reference borrower defense to repayment and student loan forgiveness. You may be able to get your federal student loans cancelled under borrower defense to student loan repayment forgiveness. Here’s how:
- Complete the borrower defense to repayment application.
- Prove monetary harm. Borrowing a student loan to attend the program, by itself, is insufficient to prove monetary harm. The U.S. Department of Education will compare earnings of prior graduates from your academic program to the earnings of graduates of comparable programs to make a determination of monetary harm.
- Provide any supporting documentation.
- Sign the certification
Student loan cancellation: $1.3 billion of student loans
Biden also cancelled another $1.3 billion of student loans for 41,000 borrowers with total and permanent disability. Biden also won’t make an additional 190,000 student loan borrowers with disabilities show documentation proving their earnings. That’s also potential good news if you qualify. If you don’t qualify under this announcement for student loan cancellation, it’s not too late to apply for student loan discharge due to total and permanent disability. Contact the U.S. Department of Education to complete the online application to have your federal student loans cancelled. Alternatively, you can complete a paper application available on the same website, contact 1-888-303-7818 or email: DisabilityInformation@Nelnet.net.
America reacts to Biden’s student loan forgiveness
Many student loan borrowers are excited about the prospect of student loan cancellation and support Biden’s proactive steps for student loan forgiveness. Not surpisingly, America has reacted to student loan cancellation in different ways. While some student loan borrowers are grateful to get student loan relief, others say the student loan cancellation to date is sufficient. These latter student loan borrowers want wide-scale student loan forgiveness ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to total student loan cancellation. For example, critics says that $2.3 billion of student loan cancellation represents only 0.1% of the $1.7 trillion of student loan debt outstanding, according to the latest student loan debt statistics. Similarly, they say only 110,000 student loan borrowers will get relief, but this only represents 0.2% of all 45 million student loan borrowers. What if you don’t qualify for any of this existing student loan cancellation? To this end, Biden has asked the Education Department to provide a recommendation on his authority as president to cancel student loan unilaterally without further congressional authorization. That report is expected within weeks, although there is no guarantee that Biden will enact student loan cancellation now or in the future. (Student loan forgiveness also faced a major setback recently). That may mean Congress would have to pass legislation for student loan forgiveness, although Congress does not have enough votes, which may leave student loan borrowers in limbo until Congress can draft a bill that is supported more widely by moderate Democrats.
Make sure you have a student loan game plan today so you have a clear path for student loan repayment. Here are some potential options to consider to save money:
