Federal Student Loan Debt Cancellation Applications Open

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) — Borrowers can now apply for the President’s Student Loan Forgiveness as the application has finally been released.

Find the app here.

The app had long been promised to debut in October, but it didn’t go live studentaid.gov in “beta” format until Friday afternoon. On Monday, the official app was launched. Applications must be submitted no later than December 31, 2023. Applicants who have entered their data as part of the “beta” launch do not have to submit a second application.

The app went live at the same time President Joe Biden finished his remarks on how this program will be a game-changer for millions of Americans. Biden quoted a grandmother who told him that debt relief meant the world to her, “that’s what today’s announcement is about.” So let’s get started. A new student loan application is now open. If you have federal student debt, please visit studentaid.gov, it’s easy, simple and fast. And it’s a new day for millions of Americans.

“Listen, we’re making this process simple. We make it clear. studentaid.gov/debt-relief that’s where you get the information,” said US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “If you are on a URL and it does not have studentaid.gov inside, it’s not good. Get out of this.

The form does not require any documents, such as tax returns. It requires borrowers to submit their names, social security numbers, date of birth, phone, and email.

The student loan forgiveness is intended to benefit people earning less than $125,000 and households with incomes below $250,000. Pell Grant recipients can get up to $20,000 in relief. Other borrowers could get up to $10,000. The president’s extension this summer also continued the current freeze on student loan repayments until December 31, 2022.

Cardona said nearly 6 million people signed up to receive the email warning them to apply after the president announced in August that he was extending the pandemic program.

Bridgewater College graduate Bridget Fabiani is one of the people rushing the president’s promise. She has been on the Pandemic Student Loan Forgiveness Program since graduating at the height of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.

“Honestly, it’s been more of a relief to know that, you know, when you’re in undergrad, you know this is looming, like, you’re going to graduate and you’re going to have to start paying back. I know for my sister, it was always in the forefront of her mind. You have to pay them back. And so it was kind of a relief that I could work. I mean, it was always in the back of my mind. I always knew it had to be paid for. But it was nice to have that break and kind of be, you know, like your ducks in a row and understand other financial situations,” she said.

Fabiani said she was working with a financial adviser to make sure she didn’t miss deadlines and to prepare a budget for when she will have to repay the loans from January.

“I just made a monthly budget to pay off the loans with or without the forgiveness, because, I mean, it’s nice to know that it might come to me, but also to try and get ahead “, she said.

The president has warned that this will be the last extension of the student loan relief. The program has been running since 2020 but payments will resume in January 2023.

“I feel ready,” said Fabiani, “personally, I’m in a good place and I’m grateful that I was able to manage my budget effectively. But the number of times it’s been extended, you know, you almost don’t trust what they say. They say it’s the last time, but I thought it was the last time, a year later. I thought it would only be six months late, and then it ended up being, what, like two years?

Cardona warned people to be on their guard against scams who are looking for personal information, credit cards or coaching for a fee.

Meanwhile, legal challenges were filed against the president’s student loan forgiveness.

Attorneys general in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina are among those who have filed a lawsuit along with several groups claiming to be against government excesses.

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