Will Student Loans Be Forgiven?

Millions of Americans have student loan debt. With the increase in essential goods and services, the pandemic, and stagnant wages, student loans became even more crippling. Student loan debts hamper wealth building, ruin credit scores and make it even more difficult for people to start and maintain small businesses.

Fortunately,  there has been a deferment in place due to the pandemic. However, that ends on August 31, 2023. Many Americans will still struggle to pay back their loans after the deferment period. That’s why many Americans are calling for student loan forgiveness.  But will student loans be forgiven? Here’s what we know. 

Will Student Loans Be Forgiven?

Some student loans have already been forgiven. More than $17 Billion in student loan debt has already been canceled since January 2021 for 725,000 borrowers.

One example of student loan forgiveness was due to the lawsuit against Navient, a lending company. As a matter of fact, according to Fatherly, “Navient agreed to a settlement with 39 states that would cancel $1.7 billion in subprime private student loan debt owed by 66,000 student loan borrowers, primarily at for-profit schools.”

In addition to that, Navient has agreed to cancel an additional $3.5 million of student loans owed by 129 borrowers. This applies to borrowers who took out private education loans between 2002 and 2010 and later defaulted. 

So, She Boss Talk spoke to Coach Kadine Grant, (Coach Kbeau2ful) about how the outcome of this lawsuit affected her student loans.

Kadine, who is a spiritual life coach and podcast host found out that Navient was being sued for predatory lending.

She got a letter in the mail saying that her student loans were forgiven. Kadine owned over $120,000 worth of student loans. 

In addition to that, after 30 days, your student loans will disappear from your credit score. That means a higher credit score. A higher credit score means you can access loans and mortgages or qualify for products and services you otherwise wouldn’t be eligible for. 

Student Loan Forgiveness Programs and Repayment Options

More student loan borrowers are steps closer to student loan forgiveness (cancelation). President Biden, through executive action, took steps to rehabilitate defaulted loans through the Fresh Start Program.

The Fresh Start Program was designed to give “a fresh start” to people with student loans. This is specifically for people who are student loan delinquents or those who defaulted. What the program will do, is put you in good standing. According to Forbes, once that happens, you can:

• Enroll in autopay to prevent future delinquency
• Tell your student loan servicer you’d like to defer
• Find out from your student loan service loan provider what repayment options you have
• Enroll in an income-driven repayment plan
• Consider student loan refinancing

Let’s talk about some of the other programs offered by the government. 

File Defense Claim

If your school misled you or engaged in other misconduct in violation of certain state laws, you may be eligible for “borrower defense to loan repayment”. Therefore, you may have some or all of the loan forgiven.

If you can show that your school violated state law in regard to the loan or the educational service, you’re also eligible. You can find out more and apply here. 

Public Service Forgiveness

Employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization? You might be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

In order to qualify, you’d have to:

• Be a full-time worker at the organization
• Have Direct Loans
• Make 120 qualifying payments
• Repay your loans under one of the income-driven repayment plans

For more details click here. 

Income-Driven Plans

Are your federal student loan payments high compared to your income? You may want to repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan. There are 4 repayment plans: 

• Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (REPAYE Plan)
•  Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE Plan)
•  Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR Plan) 
• Income-Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR Plan)

For more information, visit here. 

Conclusion

Naturally, some groups will be left out of student loan debt forgiveness programs without total student loan elimination groups will be left out of the student loan debt forgiveness programs. We’ll be keeping our eyes on the news to catch up on the latest regarding student loan forgiveness and what it will mean for you. 

Update: The U.S. Department of Education has agreed to cancel 6 billion dollars of student loan debt for 200,000 student loan borrowers. This is due to a settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit, Sweet v. Cardona. Capella, Kaplan, University of Phoenix, ITT Tech, Fortis, and other schools are on this list.

If you haven’t yet applied but attended one of these schools you can apply now. You must receive a decision within 36 months from the settlement finalization date.

Find out more here:

Update:

Two weeks after the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s more ambitious student loan forgiveness plan, Biden and the Department of Education announced $39 billion in student loan forgiveness for 800,000 borrowers in the Income-Driven Repayment Program (IDR).

Under the Higher Education Act and the Department’s regulations, a borrower is eligible for forgiveness after making 240 or 300 monthly payments—the equivalent of 20 or 25 years on an IDR plan or the standard repayment plan, with the number of required payments varying based upon when a borrower first took out the loans, the type of loans they borrowed, and the IDR payment plan in which the borrower is enrolled.

Look out for an email from the Dpt. Of Education. Remember to check your spam too!

Blog last updated August 5, 2023, at 2:08am EST