This week, President Biden announced the formal launch of the application for federal student loan relief which should take under 5 minutes to complete. To access the application, go to studentaid.gov and click “Apply Now”. From there, you will need to fill out basic information including your name, birth date, social security number, phone number, and email address, but you will not need to attach any documentation. After filling out the personal information, you will have to acknowledge that you meet the income eligibility requirements and then you are ready to submit. The Education Department may reach out to you directly if they require any additional information. Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for federal loan forgiveness as long as they meet the income requirements, and all applicants can expect to see the relief within 4-6 weeks of submitting the application form.
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Details on the Student Loan Forgiveness Application, Set To Officially Launch This Month
The application for student loan forgiveness has not officially launched yet, but the Education Department recently released more details on the application, which should be available in October. The White House said it will not start canceling loans until after October 23rd due to legal challenges, but borrowers should expect to get the relief within four to six weeks of applying. It is recommended that borrowers fill out the application by November 15 to receive relief by January when the payment pause expires, which reduces the possibility of confusion or errors when payments begin again.
According to a preview of the application, applicants will need to fill in basic information including name, birth date, phone number, email address, and social security number and will not require any documentation. The application can be done on a desktop computer or a mobile phone and will be available in English or in Spanish. While it won’t require proof of income, borrowers will need to self-attest that they fall under the income threshold (see below).
The income threshold considers a person’s adjusted gross income (AGI) which can be found on line 11 of your federal tax return. To qualify for relief, a borrower’s AGI in 2020 or 2021 must have been:
- under $125,000 for a single borrower or
- under $250,000 for a married couple or heads of households
The Education Department said they will notify about 8 million people by email who will have their debt canceled automatically without having to apply because their income data is already filed: borrowers who filed a FAFSA for the 2022-2023 school year and borrowers who are enrolled in income-driven repayment programs. It is still recommended that all borrowers who qualify for forgiveness fill out the official application to avoid any errors.
Anyone who made payments on their federal student loans during the payment pause from March 13, 2020 to now is eligible to request a refund from their loan servicer. To request a refund, the Department of Education recommends contacting the borrower’s specific loan servicer and following their instructions.
The office will post when the applications go live. A preview of what the loan forgiveness application will look like on both a computer and mobile device can be found here and more information about student loan relief can be found here.
Biden Signs CHIPS and Science Act
At a ceremony earlier today, President Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act.
Additional background documents are available here.
House to Start Debate on Infrastructure Bill Today
After nonstop negotiations with different factions of her own party late last week and through the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) scheduled the floor debate on the bipartisan infrastructure package f to start today.
The House leadership finds itself in a tough spot, as a group of Democratic progressives have insisted that they would not vote for the infrastructure legislation that was passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis without a commitment to bring up a larger $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation package. At the same time, a group of moderates have balked at the size of the reconciliation package while supporting the infrastructure deal. Progressives fear that moderates will walk away from the larger bill if they get to vote on the infrastructure package first. Pelosi had earlier committed to bringing up the $1.5-trillion infrastructure bill for a floor vote today. Vote to pass the bill, assuming there are enough votes, is currently scheduled for Thursday.
Biden Releases Infrastructure Proposal
As anticipated, the Biden Administration released today an initial set of documents related to its much-discussed “infrastructure plan” earlier today.
The proposal released today addresses both physical infrastructure and as well as “human” infrastructure issues, such as workforce development. A second set of proposals, designed to target needs in the areas of education and healthcare, is expected to the released later this spring.
Examples of areas of interest to UW and higher education include the following:
- $180 billion in new R&D spending
- $50 billion for new NSF Technology directorate for work in new fields like:
- semiconductors and advanced computing; advanced energy, biotech
- $50 billion for semiconductor research and manufacturing
- $30 billion for R&D/ innovation opportunities in rural communities
- $40 billion for research infrastructure, including “brick-and-mortar” facilities and computing capabilities and networks
- To be funded through agencies across the government
- 50% would be reserved for MSI, and would create a new Climate Lab at an HBCU
- $12 billion for community college facilities and technology, to be funded through states
- $100 billion for broadband
- $35 billion in clean technology and clean energy research / innovations, including:
- Creating ARPA-C
- $15 billion for R&D in climate priority demonstration projects, in fields like:
- Utility-scale energy storage, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, advanced nuclear, rare earth element separations, floating offshore wind, biofuel/bioproducts, quantum computing, and electric vehicles
- $10 billion in R&D investments for MSIs
- $15 billion to create up to 200 centers of excellence at MSIs to serve as research incubators for grad fellowships and other opportunities
- $20 billion regional innovation hubs to create at least 10 hubs to, further among other goals, link urban and rural communities
- $14 billion for NIST to connect government, academia, and industry to address future competitiveness needs
Examples of other elements of the proposal include:
- $621 billion in transportation infrastructure projects, such as:
- $115 billion for bridges, highways, roads, and main streets
- $85 billion for public transit
- $80 billion for passenger and freight rail
- $174 billion for the electric vehicle market and infrastructure
- $25 billion for airports
- $25 billion for regional projects that are too big to be financed by a single entity
- $17 billion for waterways, ports, ferries
- $20 billion to connect communities physically cut off from economic opportunities
Pay-fors
- The plan proposes to change a number of tax provisions and seeks to raise $2 trillion over 15 years.
The White House fact sheet on the proposal is available here.
The release of the proposal is just the first step in the process of trying to push through and fund a set of infrastructure plans. How Congress chooses to engage with and respond to the the Biden requests remain to the be seen. Office of Federal Relations will continue to provide additional details about the proposal as they become available.