Details on the Student Loan Forgiveness Application, Set To Officially Launch This Month

Posted on October 17, 2022October 17, 2022

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.

Congress Passes a CR to Fund the Federal Government through Dec. 16th

Posted on October 17, 2022

On September 30th, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to extend the current funding levels for the federal government through December 16, averting a partial government shutdown and extending time for Congress to agree on and pass the funding bills for FY2023. The CR passed the Senate after Sen. Manchin (D-WV) removed his pipeline permit measure which was opposed by both Republicans and progressive Democrats. In addition to extending the current funding levels, the CR included $17 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, $19 billion for FEMA for disaster relief, and reauthorized the Food and Drug Administration’s user fee programs, but it did not include President Biden’s request for COVID-19 and monkeypox response funding.

Both chambers are now in recess until after the midterms after which they will have to return to reach an agreement on the FY23 funding bills. Our office will continue to monitor and publish FY23 activity.

More information on the continuing resolution can be found here.

Prabhakar Confirmed as OSTP Director

Posted on September 23, 2022

By a vote of 56 – 40, the Senate confirmed yesterday the nomination of Arati Prabhakar as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She had cleared the committee process earlier this year and had been waiting for a vote by the full Senate. She was nominated to fill the role after Eric Lander resigned the from the OSTP earlier this year.

Biden Administration Releases Plan on Student Loan Forgiveness

Posted on August 24, 2022

After months of back and forth and anticipation, the Biden Administration finally released its loan cancellation plan today.

The centerpiece of the plan calls for the cancellation of $10,000 in student loan debt for single borrowers with an income of less than $125,000. At the same time, it would allow those borrowers with an income of less than $125,000 who were also Pell Grant recipients during college to cancel $20,000 of student loan debt.

In addition, the current moratorium on student loan repayments would be extended through the end of this year, for the last time. Loan repayments would restart in January of next year.

The Administration is also proposing to create a new income-driven repayment plan, one that would cap repayments at 5 percent of a borrower’s discretionary income (lowered from the current cap of 10 percent). The plan calls for further changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan as well.

Furthermore, the Department of Education plans to publish a list of institutions that it views as saddling students with unreasonable debt levels and it would also require such institutions to provide improvement plans.

A press release about the Administration’s plan from the Department of Education is available here.

Many of the details will still need to be worked out.

You can read further about the proposal here, here, and here.

Fauci to Retire in December

Posted on August 22, 2022

Dr. Anthony Fauci has announced that he will retire in December. He is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has served in that role for 38 years. He has also been serving as the chief medical adviser to President Biden. While he has long been known to the biomedical research community, he has become a bigger public figure during COVID pandemic.

Read more about him and his decision here, here, and here.