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On Monday, President Joe Biden announced during a White House speech that an online form will allow federal student loan recipients to apply for up to $20,000 in debt relief.

“Today, I’m announcing millions of people, working and middle-class folks, can apply and get this relief. And it’s simple and it’s now. It’s easy,” Biden said in his speech. “This is a game changer for millions of Americans … and it took an incredible amount of effort to get this website done in such a short time.”

Borrowers must also have federally-held student loans to qualify. The form asks for an applicant’s full name, social security number, date of birth, phone number and an email address. Borrowers can submit applications up until Dec. 31, 2023. Recipients will not have to pay federal income tax on the forgiven loans.

The Department of Education form is a part of the Biden Administration’s student debt relief plan.

The plan, which Biden announced in August, will forgive eligible borrowers loans up to $20,000 for federal Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients.

The relief applies to loan balances before June 30, 2022. Loans disbursed after July 1, 2022 are not eligible for forgiveness.

Emma Kelly | Design Editor

Subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, parent PLUS loans and graduate PLUS loans held by the Department of Education are eligible under the relief plan, according to the Federal Student Aid website. Consolidation loans are also eligible, given the consolidated underlying loans were ED-held loans and taken on or before June 30, 2022. Private loans are not eligible for debt relief.

Federal direct subsidized loan

Direct subsidized loans are intended for undergraduate students paying for post-secondary education. Subsidized loans do not accrue interests when students are enrolled in school at least as half-time students, or during deferment periods.

Federal direct unsubsidized loan

Unsubsidized direct loans are intended for both undergraduate and graduate students paying for post-secondary education. Students are responsible for paying their interests on unsubsidized loans.

Federal direct parent PLUS loan

The federal direct PLUS (FPLUS) loan is a loan parents can obtain to help pay for the cost of education for their dependent undergraduate children.

Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan

The federal direct graduate PLUS loan is a long-term, fixed-rate loan intended for graduate students to finance the cost of attendance not covered by other financial aid.

Federal Direct Consolidation Loan

A federal consolidation loan allows students to combine all previously obtained federal loans into one loan. The consolidation loan pays off loan balances of all a student’s consolidated loans under a new repayment schedule.

A beta version of the application opened on Friday evening. President Biden said over 8 million Americans used the website over the weekend to fill out their applications “without a glitch.”

“As millions of people fill out the application, we’re going to make sure the system continues to work as smoothly as possible so that we can deliver student loan relief for millions of Americans as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” Biden said.

Published on October 19, 2022 at 11:29 pm