How long will it take to process the student loan forgiveness application?
Relief was expected within six weeks from application in early November but a case being heard in the Supreme Court has stopped the plan for now.
The student debt forgiveness plan has been unveiled. Pell Grant recipients and non-grantees will be able to cut $20,000 and $10,000 in student loan debt, respectively, so long as they make under $125,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples).
According to the Department of Education the application period will be short and the deadline for the application is 31 December 2023, giving student plenty of time to access it.
Millions of eligible Americans have already applied for the debt forgiveness via the online application form, with the latest figures at 26 million. Those that submitted an application before the full rollout will now have their applications processed which should have taken six weeks at the most. If you used the Beta form, you will not need to resubmit your application.
A hiccup in sending the payments
However, this timeline is out of the window for the moment. Attorneys for the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina brought a case that Biden is not able to authorise such widespread student loan forgiveness as it may impact the tax revenues of said states.
The US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit issued an administrative stay on paymentys while it reviews a lawsuit which is expected to be thrown out once more. The court requested an expedited hearing to ensure that that case is concluded swiftly. It is not known how long the pause will be for but as long as the court is hearing the case then no debt forgiveness will be able to be sent to student.
“We will continue to move full speed ahead in our preparations in compliance with this order,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement. “And, the Administration will continue to fight Republican officials suing to block our efforts to provide relief to working families.”