The Biden-Harris Administration recently announced plans for student loan forgiveness. The application to apply for relief approval will open within days from now.
Federal loan borrowers who make less than $125,000 or have a joint income of up $250,00 are eligible for forgiveness of up to $10,000 dollars. Pell grant recipients could see an additional $10,000 of relief.
Junior Emily Lewis believes that the loan forgiveness program laid out by the Biden-Harris Administration is going to benefit many students facing debt. “It’s helping people, it’s making a difference in a lot of people’s lives. So, I think it’s good and definitely a step forward in the right direction,” said Lewis.
But many students feel that the relief doesn’t go far enough.
“I think that it is a good start, I honestly think that there should be more,” said senior Izyah Gerlach.
Last Thursday, six weeks after the original announcement, the Education Department published new guidelines for the relief plan. The new guidelines state that any borrower with federal loans not held by the education department, cannot obtain the one-time debt relief.
This new rule will affect any borrower with Federal Family Education Loans or Perkins Loans who did not apply for consolidation before September 29th of this year.
Recent Temple graduate Katie Miernicki says that the reversal will affect the amount of relief she could receive.
“I think a lot of people including myself are feeling the disappointment and the excitement is definitely waning as we realize this might be subject to more rollbacks in the future,” said Miernicki.
The student financial aid office, located in Wachman Hall, is sharing this statement with students who are questioning if their loans will be impacted by this new plan:
“The amount of student loan forgiveness is tied to whether or not the borrower received a federal Pell Grant in college. Students questioning if they received a Pell Grant can review their studentaid.gov account”.
The Department of Education could release loan forgiveness applications any day now. The Department recommends that borrowers anticipating the application visit studentaid.gov or subscribe to notifications at ed.gov/subscribe.
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