The Department of Education has announced that nearly 400,000 borrowers are on track to receive student loan forgiveness within two years. President Joe Biden will be sending emails to these borrowers starting this week, congratulating them on their progress and encouraging them to continue in their public service work to be eligible for forgiveness. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program can eliminate federal student loan debt after making 120 qualifying payments while working for certain nonprofit or public organizations. In recent years, PSLF was plagued with issues, but President Biden has implemented fixes and improvements that have resulted in a significant increase in the number of borrowers approved for student loan forgiveness.
President Biden’s administration recently announced that almost 80,000 borrowers had been approved for over $5 billion in loan forgiveness through the PSLF program improvements. This brings the total amount of loan forgiveness through PSLF to $62.5 billion, with more than 870,000 borrowers receiving forgiveness thanks to these changes. Biden is now urging borrowers who are on track for PSLF to remain focused and continue making progress towards loan forgiveness. Borrowers must complete the full 120 qualifying payments while working for an eligible employer to be eligible for PSLF.
To qualify for loan forgiveness through PSLF, borrowers must make 120 qualifying payments on eligible federal student loans under specific repayment plans and work for eligible nonprofit or public entities. Borrowers can use the Department of Education’s PSLF Employer Search Tool to confirm if their employment qualifies. The temporary Biden administration opportunity known as the IDR Account Adjustment can allow borrowers to receive retroactive PSLF credit for past periods that wouldn’t have counted under the program’s rules. This adjustment is one of the fixes implemented by President Biden to help more borrowers qualify for loan forgiveness.
The announcement from the Department of Education was made in conjunction with the latest wave of student loan forgiveness approvals under the PSLF program. President Biden hopes that emails sent out to borrowers will encourage them to continue their important work in public service and take advantage of the opportunity for loan forgiveness. Borrowers who stay on track in their public service work could have their remaining student loans forgiven in less than two years through PSLF. The program has significantly increased the number of borrowers approved for loan forgiveness since Biden took office and aimed to address the challenges that many public service workers faced in accessing relief.
Under current law, PSLF is an all-or-nothing program, meaning borrowers must complete the full 120 qualifying payments to receive loan forgiveness. Borrowers should use the PSLF Help Tool to certify their employment and ensure their repayment plan qualifies for forgiveness. The IDR Account Adjustment allows borrowers to potentially receive credit for past repayment periods that may not have previously counted towards PSLF. However, borrowers must take action before the end of April to ensure they meet all requirements for loan forgiveness. President Biden is committed to ensuring that more borrowers are able to access the benefits of the PSLF program and has made significant strides in improving its efficacy and accessibility.