President Joe Biden (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Here’s how to qualify for $6 billion in student loan forgiveness.
Here’s what you need to know — and what that means for your student loans.
Student loans
This week, the Biden administration agreed to forgive $6 billion in student loans for 200,000 borrowers. This student loan forgiveness is another big win for student borrowers. Follow these 10 steps to find out how you can qualify for that big student loan forgiveness.
How to Get Student Loan Forgiveness
This student loan forgiveness involves defending the borrower against student loan repayment, which is an Obama-era rule that allows student borrowers to obtain full or partial student loan forgiveness. To date, excluding this latest announcement, Biden has enacted $7.9 billion in student loan forgiveness for 690,000 borrowers under Borrower Defense of Student Loan Repayments and School Closures. Follow these 10 steps:
1. Have you requested the borrower’s defense for the repayment of a student loan?
2. If yes, determine if you attended any of these 150 colleges or universities. This $6 billion student loan forgiveness relates to a class action settlement agreement regarding the cancellation of a student loan based on the borrower’s defense to repayment.
3. If you attended one of these schools and filed for Borrower Defense Until Repayment, you will get full student loan forgiveness of your remaining federal student loans.
4. If you filed for Borrower Defense of Reimbursement but did not attend one of these schools, you will receive a decision on your claim from the U.S. Department of Education based on the date at which you applied for.
5. What happens if you requested the borrower’s defense to reimbursement but your request was refused? If you attended one of these schools, your claim will be reinstated and you will get student loan forgiveness based on the borrower’s defense to repayment.
6. What if you did not request cancellation of a student loan on the basis of the borrower’s defense to repayment?
7. You can to apply for the defense of the borrower to online student loan repayment.
8. Application is free and the application will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
9. To qualify for Borrower’s Defense to Reimbursement, you must have attended a college or university that you believe misled you in violation of state law.
10. Alternatively, you may be eligible for Borrower Defense until Reimbursement if your college or university closed while you were enrolled or shortly after you withdrew.
Student loans: next steps
Prior to this major announcement, President Joe Biden canceled $25 billion in student loans. As student borrowers await Biden’s decision on large-scale student loan forgiveness, they can also apply for student loan forgiveness based on the borrower’s defense to repayment. Biden is considering $10,000 in student loan forgiveness, but progressives in Congress are pressuring the president to forgive $50,000 in student loans. While Biden could announce a decision in a few weeks, temporary student loan relief ends August 31, 2022. This means federal student loan payments resume starting September 1, 2022. Are you ready? Now is the time to assess your best options for repaying your student loan. Start with these popular ways to save money on your student loans:
