On July 31, President Joe Biden unveiled new regulations that expand the pool of borrowers eligible for student loan debt relief to millions more.
“Today, my administration accomplished a significant milestone by wiping out about 30 million Americans’ student debt,” stated Biden.
“We won’t give up on offering student loan borrowers relief, repairing the flawed student loan system, and assisting borrowers in escaping the weight of student debt.”
All borrowers with at least one outstanding federal student loan will begin receiving emails from the Education Department on August 1. These emails will include information about possible debt relief as well as a notice of the deadline of August 30 to call and opt out of the program, if one is not interested. Eligibility is not guaranteed by the email.
Based on the administration’s ongoing efforts to give over 4.8 million borrowers $168 billion in student loan relief, the department will complete the regulations this autumn. More than 30 million borrowers, including those who have already been approved, will be eligible for student loan relief if the new guidelines are enacted.
Miguel Cardona, the secretary of the Education Department, stated in a statement that “these latest steps will mark the next milestone in our efforts to help millions of borrowers who’ve been buried under a mountain of student loan interest, or who took on debt to pay for college programs that left them worse off financially, those who have been paying their loans for twenty or more years, and many others.”
The administration directed Cardona to provide further student loan debt relief to tens of millions of borrowers nationally, including those whose balances have increased due to years of interest, in its first set of draft regulations, which were announced in April.
If the regulations are approved, Cardona will be able to offer either partial or complete debt relief to borrowers who owe more than they did when they first started repaying their debt, as well as those who have been in repayment for more than 20 years, are enrolled in low-financial value programs, and are eligible for loan forgiveness but have not yet applied.
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