Student loan forgiveness: DENIED

Maria Bellios, Staff Writer

The Biden administration has faced another rejection in court in an effort to save the student loan debt relief policy. The plan to cancel student loans proposed by President Joe Biden is currently on hold for all parties. However, there may be more misunderstandings concerning debt forgiveness for at least 9 million borrowers. 

The Department of Education started notifying applicants for student loan forgiveness that their applications had been completed or approved in November. But a spokeswoman for the Education Department claimed that 9 million of the emails contained a mistake. This indicates that the Biden administration will extend a suspension on student loan payments.

The Biden administration began alerting those who are eligible for federal student loan relief nearly early October, despite the fact that the program’s future is uncertain as lower courts nationwide, have halted it. The U.S. Department of Education admitted that new legal difficulties have prevented the agency from forgiving the debt.  

Millions of eligible borrowers might receive debt relief of up to $20,000 under President Joe Biden’s program, but it has been greeted with legal resistance. According to the Biden administration, some 26 million people filed for student loan relief before the most recent court rulings, with 16 million of those applications being approved. This means more than half of students would receive loan relief. 

Individuals must have made less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021, and households must have made less than $200,000 in that same year. You don’t need to achieve the income requirements for both years; only for 2020 and 2021. Your adjusted gross income (AGI), not your total income, is used to determine the criteria. You may determine your AGI on your most recent tax return. It is frequently lower than your total income. 

If you receive a Pell Grant and your income qualifies, you are eligible to have up to $20,000 of your debt erased. Everyone else with sufficient income may receive forgiveness of up to $10,000. Of the total 45 million debtors of federal student loans, 43 million are anticipated to be eligible for some form of relief.

An estimated 9 million borrowers received false information claiming they had been approved for student loan debt relief.  The 9 million Americans who applied for the Biden administration’s student loan debt relief program reportedly received emails indicating their applications were approved in error in November, according to CBS News.  Updates on the initiative were given by the Department of Education in September. The first update was to let 16 million applicants know if their request to have up to $20,000 in student loan debt canceled had been accepted.