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Here's who qualifies for Biden's new student loan forgiveness plan

Here's who qualifies for Biden's new student loan forgiveness plan
Facing *** critical deadline next week. President Biden is expected to make an announcement today on student loan forgiveness. That could bring some relief to millions of borrowers. The White House is reportedly preparing today to announce the cancelation of $10,000 in debt for every borrower depending on your income level. And also they're going to extend the pause on repayments for several more months. That pause was set to expire just days from now on August 31. *** lot of people have that date circled on their calendar. Student loan payments have been suspended since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago and the broader issue of loan forgiveness has been *** pretty divisive issue even within the Democratic Party. The announcement comes just *** little more than two months before the midterm elections and ends months of speculation about how the White House would handle the issue here. Now, to give us more on this story, is White House correspondent Colin Howell Callan, Good morning, Good morning Alex. Well, as you said, we're hearing reporting that the president could announce today as much as $10,000 worth of student loan forgiveness for borrowers making up to $125,000. So we're hearing that there's going to be an income cap on this and also an extension on the pause on student loan repayments through as late as january as you said that deadline Repayments was coming up on August 31. Now details of this announcement are still being kept closely under wrap, officials at the White House here have been hesitant to really give me *** whole lot of information on this. But we have heard officials saying that any announcement on this would come before that August 31 deadline, including the Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona who said this recently Protecting our students and our borrowers, um $32 billion August 31 is *** date that many people are waiting to hear something from. We've been talking uh daily about this and I can tell you that the American people will will here within the next week or so. Now nationwide student loan debt talks about $1.7 trillion 43 million Americans who owe student loans or who have student loan debt, but more than half of them actually owe more than $20,000 on their loans. And so that's why there's been *** lot of criticism around the exact dollar amount that's being reported here, including from within the president's own party. Some more progressive democrats have been calling on president biden to forgive as much as $50,000 in student loans across the country. And we're hearing that last night, the Senate majority leader chuck schumer actually called president biden to urge him to forgive as much as possible. And there are some democrats who want the president to go even further. Like Senator Bernie Sanders who tweeted this, He said if we can bail out Wall Wall Street after their greed, recklessness and illegal behavior drove us into the worst recession in modern history, then yes, we can absolutely cancel every single cent of student debt in this country. And further, you know, this is really controversial from *** lot of different sides, not just democrats by doing this kind of announcement. The president also risks angering lots of americans who may have skipped college or altered their plans in or to avoid taking on student debt. And there are some economists who worry that by canceling student debt broadly, it could actually impact inflation in *** negative way. It could act as sort of *** mini stimulus by putting more money into american's pockets at *** time when the economy is really trying to cool down spending. So lots of different criticism to consider and we're going to bring you details as we get them on this announcement today. Absolutely! All right, kellan Howell reporting. Thank you so much. And of course you were expecting Secretary Cardona on morning rush today, but he had to reschedule because of this announcement. So we hope to hear from him later on this week.
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Here's who qualifies for Biden's new student loan forgiveness plan
President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced his plan to address student loan debt, which includes debt forgiveness for certain borrowers and extending the pandemic-related payment pause.The Biden administration has already canceled nearly $32 billion of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student debt by expanding existing forgiveness programs for public-sector workers, disabled borrowers and students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges.Here are details of Biden's new plan, including how much will be forgiven and who is eligible.Who qualifies?The plan applies to federal student loan borrowers.How much forgiveness will they get?The amount of debt canceled depends on whether the borrower received a Pell grant to attend college. A federal Pell grant is only given to undergraduate students who "display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor's, graduate, or professional degree" and "does not have to be repaid, except under certain circumstances," according to the Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office.Individual borrowers who make less than $125,000 yearly and married couples or heads of households who make less than $250,000 yearly will have up $10,000 of their federal student loan debt forgiven if they did not receive a Pell grant as an undergraduate student, per the FSA website.Individual borrowers who make less than $125,000 yearly and married couples or heads of households who make less than $250,000 yearly but did receive a Pell grant as an undergraduate student will have up $20,000 of their student loan debt forgiven.What steps do eligible borrowers have to take?Nearly 8 million borrowers may be able to receive debt forgiveness automatically because the Department of Education already has their income information, FSA says.The Biden administration will launch an application in the coming weeks for borrowers to provide their income information or if borrowers are unsure if the department has their income information already. FSA says the application will be available before the federal student loan repayment pause ends on Dec. 31.Borrowers can sign up for updates on when the application is open at the Department of Education's subscriptions page.How will future repayments for remaining debt work?Student loan repayment will be paused again until Dec. 31, 2022, with repayments starting in January 2023.The Biden administration is also proposing a rule to create a new income-driven repayment plan in which borrowers pay no more than 5% of their monthly income on undergraduate loans, a decrease from the current 10% threshold.The rule would also increase the amount of income that is considered "non-discretionary income" so no borrower earning below 225% of the federal poverty level will have to make a monthly payment.For borrowers with loan balances of $12,000 or less, loan balances would be forgiven after 10 years of payments instead of the current 20-year mark, under the proposed new income-driven repayment plan.And to help prevent a borrower's loan balance from growing while the individual makes monthly payments, under the proposed rule the Biden administration would cover unpaid monthly interest, even if the monthly payment is $0 due to the borrower's income level.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced his plan to address student loan debt, which includes debt forgiveness for certain borrowers and extending the pandemic-related payment pause.

The Biden administration has already canceled nearly $32 billion of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student debt by expanding existing forgiveness programs for public-sector workers, disabled borrowers and students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges.

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Here are details of Biden's new plan, including how much will be forgiven and who is eligible.

Who qualifies?

The plan applies to federal student loan borrowers.

How much forgiveness will they get?

The amount of debt canceled depends on whether the borrower received a Pell grant to attend college. A is only given to undergraduate students who "display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor's, graduate, or professional degree" and "does not have to be repaid, except under certain circumstances," according to the Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office.

Individual borrowers who make less than $125,000 yearly and married couples or heads of households who make less than $250,000 yearly will have up $10,000 of their federal student loan debt forgiven if they did not receive a Pell grant as an undergraduate student, per the .

Individual borrowers who make less than $125,000 yearly and married couples or heads of households who make less than $250,000 yearly but did receive a Pell grant as an undergraduate student will have up $20,000 of their student loan debt forgiven.

What steps do eligible borrowers have to take?

Nearly 8 million borrowers may be able to receive debt forgiveness automatically because the Department of Education already has their income information, FSA says.

The Biden administration will launch an application in the coming weeks for borrowers to provide their income information or if borrowers are unsure if the department has their income information already. FSA says the application will be available before the federal student loan repayment pause ends on Dec. 31.

Borrowers can sign up for updates on when the application is open at the .

How will future repayments for remaining debt work?

Student loan repayment will be paused again until Dec. 31, 2022, with repayments starting in January 2023.

The Biden administration is also proposing a rule to create a new income-driven repayment plan in which borrowers pay no more than 5% of their monthly income on undergraduate loans, a decrease from the current 10% threshold.

The rule would also increase the amount of income that is considered "non-discretionary income" so no borrower earning below 225% of the federal poverty level will have to make a monthly payment.

For borrowers with loan balances of $12,000 or less, loan balances would be forgiven after 10 years of payments instead of the current 20-year mark, under the proposed new income-driven repayment plan.

And to help prevent a borrower's loan balance from growing while the individual makes monthly payments, under the proposed rule the Biden administration would cover unpaid monthly interest, even if the monthly payment is $0 due to the borrower's income level.