Student Loan Forgiveness Program
The Student Loan Forgiveness Program was first launched in 2007.
According to this program, students who have paid their monthly student loan payments for 10 years will receive their student loan debt forgiveness.
Once they had repaid their federal student loans after 10 years, the rest would be erased.
The opportunity comes with some issues, including a complicated application process and tough requirements.
Biden undergoes sweeping changes in Student loan forgiveness programs.
Approximately 550,000 teachers, government workers, and military personnel now receive benefits.
Even though education officials acknowledge that the program has fallen short of its promise, they hope its overhaul will restore its value.
Educator Miguel Cardona said in a statement that this program would rely on people who have served their country for over a decade.
According to the Biden administration, real work will start on this agreement in October 2022, aiming would help more than 550,000 borrowers.
Different agencies expect that this program will erase $1.7 billion in debt for 22,000 borrowers.
Besides 27,000 borrowers, another $2.8 billion in debt could be forgiven if they prove they were employed in an eligible job.
On the other hand, the federal government rejects many applications, including teachers, firefighters, and police officers.
Seeing this situation, Biden planned with the Department of Education that they would review all denied applications.
The main purpose is to identify and correct errors in loan cancellation processing.
Furthermore, the Education department claims that COVID-19 makes erasing debts extremely critical for students.
The ones who follow the below-mentioned criteria can apply for it.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must work full-time for a federal, state, local or tribal government agency, including military agencies or tax-exempt organizations.
- Children’s and family services agencies, colleges, and universities.
- Government employers that fall under the categories of public transportation, water, and housing authorities.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2019 report revealed that 94% of applications were denied because they did not follow the eligibility criteria.
On Sunday report showed that only 124 of 180,000 active-duty members were approved for debt forgiveness.
Good days take time to come. Once they come, an immense change will occur in the world. This step gets more progress if it goes well without any strict rules.
By: Tayyaba Zareen