Federal Student Loan Forgiveness

*Courts have issued orders blocking the student debt relief program. As a result, at this time, applications are not being accepted. The Department of Education is seeking to overturn those orders. If you've already applied, they will hold your application. The rest of the information on this page is expected to be applicable again when debt relief resumes.

The application for student loan forgiveness is now open and available. Click here to access the application: https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief/application

 

The only information you need to complete the application is your name, social security number, date of birth, phone number and email.  You MAY be contacted after submitting the application to send more information. For instance, you may be contacted to submit proof of income to confirm eligibility.

What You Need To Know

President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the U.S. Department of Education recently announced a plan to help federal student loan borrowers pay off their loans. One of the key points of the plan is student loan forgiveness of up to $20,000. Find out below how you can be eligible for this program.

 

What is it :

  • Borrowers of federal loans will receive $10,000 of forgiveness.

  • Recipients of the Pell grant will receive $20,000 of forgiveness.

Who’s eligible: 

  • Federal Direct Loans that were disbursed prior to June 30, 2022 are eligible if other criteria are met.*   

  • For DEPENDENT students (dependent based on the FAFSA) the income criteria (below $125,000 for individuals or $250,000 for married couples) will be based on parental income, not student income. 

  • For students who received Pell Grants as well as Direct Loans, forgiveness will be extended up to $20,000. 

  • For parents, forgiveness of debt also includes Direct Parent PLUS loans if other criteria are met. 

  • For Parent PLUS borrowers to receive $20,000 in forgiveness, the PARENT must have received a Pell Grant while in college.

  • Private or Alternative loans are not eligible for forgiveness, only federal loans. 

 

What you have to do: 

  • You need to complete the application at https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief/application to request forgiveness of debt. You will fill out your name, social security number, and date of birth. You will receive a confirmation email when complete. If the US Department of Education cannot verify family income themselves by utilizing FAFSA data linked to IRS data, they will reach out to you requesting this information.

  • Borrowers should apply before November 15, 2022 in order to receive the relief before the payments restart December 31, 2022.

  • Once you have applied, it will take 4-6 weeks for your loan servicer to process your application and apply the forgiveness.

*The status of loan forgiveness for those who borrowed prior to 2010 through the FFEL – Federal Family Education Loans – program, is still under review. If those loans were transferred to the US Department of Education, they are included. For those still being serviced by a bank, the situation remains unclear. IF you have a federal FFEL loan that is held by a bank, you can consolidate your loan into a Direct Consolidation Loan and it will then be included in the forgiveness program.