The Biden Administration canceled $39 billion of student loans for 804,000 borrowers — here's how to see if you're one of them (2024)

FAQs

How many student loans did Biden cancel? ›

The Biden-Harris Administration has now approved nearly $138 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 3.9 million borrowers through more than two dozen executive actions.

If you qualify for student loan forgiveness or discharge in full, and have applied if necessary in your case, you will get a notification and will no longer need to make payments. In some cases, you may even get a refund, depending on the program you applied under.

If you work full time for a government or nonprofit organization, you may qualify for forgiveness of the entire remaining balance of your Direct Loans after you've made 120 qualifying payments—i.e., 10 years of payments. To benefit from PSLF, you need to repay your federal student loans under an IDR plan. New to PSLF?

Loan discharge has additional results: You could get a refund. Depending on the type of discharge you receive, you could receive a refund of some or all payments you made on the loan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Another 78,000 Americans are getting their federal student loans canceled through a program that helps teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public servants, the Biden administration announced Thursday.

Canceling federal student loans will cost the government money that comes in part from taxpayer dollars. The Congressional Budget Office, which crunches the numbers, said President Biden's plan to cancel student loans could have added $400 billion to the government's expenses.

Generally, when a student loan is forgiven, it shouldn't impact your credit in a negative way. As long as your loans were in good standing at the time they were discharged and your accounts are being reported properly to the credit reporting bureaus, you won't see a huge difference in your score.

In a pair of recent cases, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness program. In Biden v. Nebraska, which was decided 6-3, the court struck down the administration's student loan forgiveness program and agreed with the six challenging states that they had standing to sue.

You're not eligible for federal student loan forgiveness programs if you have private loans, but there are other strategies for managing private loan debt.

“The data released today once again make clear that the Biden-Harris Administration's relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system are paying off in a big way, with more than 3.6 million borrowers now approved for nearly $132 billion in loan forgiveness.

Can FAFSA loans be forgiven? ›

Borrowers with undergraduate debt would qualify for forgiveness if they entered repayment 20 years ago or more, and borrowers with graduate school debt would qualify for forgiveness if they entered repayment 25 years ago or more. Cancel student debt for borrowers previously enrolled in low-financial-value programs.

From Oct. 6, 2021, through Oct. 31, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) implemented a change to PSLF program rules for a limited time as a result of the COVID-19 national emergency. As of mid-July 2023, approximately 662,000 borrowers have qualified for forgiveness under the limited PSLF waiver.

You may notice your former servicer has cleared your loan account. For example, your loan balance may come up as “paid in full” on your former servicer's website or on your credit report. This does not mean you've received loan forgiveness. This is part of the loan transfer process.

Student loans disappear from credit reports 7.5 years from the date they are paid in full, charged-off, or entered default. Education debt can reappear if you dig out of default with consolidation or loan rehabilitation. Student loans can have an outsized impact on your credit score.

There are specific situations when a student loan can be removed from a credit report and nearly all of them are related to inaccuracies. Some examples of inaccurate information include: Missed or late payments (either during regular repayment periods or forbearance and deferment) Student loan default.

An Unparalleled Track Record of Student Debt Cancellation

The Biden-Harris Administration has fought tirelessly to provide borrowers the relief they have earned. In total, the Administration has now approved debt cancellation for nearly 3.9 million hard-working Americans totaling almost $138 billion in relief.

The Biden-Harris Administration today is publishing a state-by-state breakdown of the nearly 153,000 borrowers who are receiving $1.2 billion in forgiveness under President Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan.

Today, my Administration approved debt cancellation for another 74,000 student loan borrowers across the country, bringing the total number of people who have gotten their debt cancelled under my Administration to over 3.7 million Americans through various actions.

This program forgives up to $17,500 of student loan principal and interest for those who teach full time for five consecutive, complete academic years. This applies to certain schools or educational service agencies that serve primarily low-income families.