The US Department of Education is providing debt cancellation of up to $10,000 for single borrowers making less than $125,000 or households earning less than $250,000. This includes current students and borrowers who have federally held undergraduate, graduate, and Parent PLUS Loans that have been fully disbursed by June 30, 2022.

Students who were dependent in the 2021–22 academic year will be eligible based on parental income, rather than their own income. Borrowers who fell under the income cap and received Pell Grants* while in college will be eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness (up to $20,000).

If a borrower filed a FAFSA in 2021–22, income information will already be on file with the Department of Education. For those whose income information is not already on file, an application will be available in September.

Parent and Graduate PLUS Loans held by ED will be included in the relief.

How Do I Know If I’m Eligible?

  • Your annual income must be below $125,000 if a single filer or below $250,000 for married or head of household income tax filers in either the 2020 or 2021 tax year.
    • If you were a dependent student in 2021–22, your parent’s income must be below the above thresholds.
  • Your loans must be a federally held direct loan, not a commercially held FFELP loan. FFELP loans that were consolidated into federally held loans prior to June 30, 2022, will qualify.
    • You can determine if your loans are federally or commercially held by viewing your borrowing history online.
      • If you don’t remember your FSA ID and password, you can use the “Forgot My Username/Password” links from the login page. For further assistance, please contact the FSAIC at 1-800-443-3243.

How Much Forgiveness Will I Receive?

  • If you received a Federal Pell Grant* while in college, you will be eligible for up to $20,000 in debt cancellations.
  • If you did not receive a Federal Pell Grant, you will be eligible for up to $10,000 in debt cancellation.

How Do I Know If I Received a Pell Grant*?

  • This information is available in the Aid Summary after logging in to the Federal Student Aid website using your FSA ID and password.
    • If you don’t remember your FSA ID and password, you can use the “Forgot My Username/Password” links from the login page. For further assistance, please contact the FSAIC at 1-800-443-3243.

What Do I Need to Do to Receive Forgiveness?

  • If you filed a FAFSA in 2021–22, your income should already be on file with the Department of Education and no action should be necessary from you.
  • If your income information is not on file or you are unsure if your income information is on file, an application will be available in the coming weeks.
    • If you would like to be notified when the application is made available, sign up for subscriptions. https://www.ed.gov/subscriptions

I’m a Current Student. Am I Eligible for Forgiveness?

  • Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans and Federal Direct Parent/Graduate PLUS Loans that were fully disbursed by June 30, 2022, will be eligible for the debt cancellation. Loans that were not fully disbursed by June 30, 2022, will not qualify.
COVID-19 Emergency Relief and Federal Student Aid

Here, you can find information about COVID-19 relief for federal student loans. You can also learn how to prepare for loan payments to begin again.

For more information, please visit the Federal Student Aid website's page about The Biden-Harris Administration's Student Debt Relief Plan Explained.

 

*It is still unclear as to when or how much a student must have received in Pell Grants to qualify.