What You Want to Know about Student Loan Forgiveness 

As you may have heard, the Biden-Harris Administration and the Department of Education have recently announced a plan for student loan forgiveness. This plan is intended to provide debt relief to low and middle-income families, as well as to make student loans more manageable for current and future borrowers. 

There will be further information on this plan to be released, addressing concerns such as eligibility and how to apply for debt relief.

For now, here is what we know. 

Do I Qualify? 

• Borrowers who have received the Pell Grant and have an income of below $125,000 for individuals or $250,000 for couples and heads of households may be eligible for up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness. 

• Those who did not receive the Pell Grant and meet the income thresholds may be eligible for up to $10,000 in loan forgiveness.
• **Borrowers who have made payments toward their loans since March 2020 and now, that would have been forgiven can also request a refund. You will need to contact your loan servicer for more details and to determine your eligibility for a refund.

Did I receive a Pell Grant? 

In order to determine if you have received the Pell Grant, you will need to log in with your FSA ID at studentaid.gov. On the dashboard, you will navigate to “My Aid,” which should display a chart with loans and grants. 

Click on “view details,” and you will be able to see what Pell Grant amounts you have been awarded.  In order to determine eligibility for student loan forgiveness, please refer to the student aid website. 

Will I be able to see my loans reduced? 

If you are eligible for this relief, you may see your loans reduced when logging into your loan servicer. However, we still don’t have a lot of information about the process. Some people may need to apply for the forgiveness, especially those whose loans are older than the past year. 

Can you tell me if I am eligible? 

No. Our financial aid office cannot determine student loan forgiveness eligibility. The Department of Education will soon provide an application for forgiveness. They will do so before the December 31, 2022 expiration of the Covid-19 Payment Pause. 

Scam Warning

During this time, it is important to be aware of the potential increase in student loan forgiveness scams. Please take the time to review How to Avoid Student Loan Forgiveness Scams for helpful tips on how to spot scams.

For further information, please refer to the announcement page on the student aid website. We recommend you also subscribe to email updates on the student debt relief plan from the Department of Education through the subscriptions page.