The Biden student loan relief application is now open, with new details. According to an NPR article, Biden plans to cancel $10,000 in debt for people who earn less than $125,000 per year.
The application will remain open until Dec. 31, 2023. It will not discharge student loan debt under the debt relief plan before October 23, 2022. This early opening of the application is intended to assist the Education Department in finding problems on the site before it officially launches later this month.
The application is available in Spanish and English at studentaid.gov. To complete the application, applicants will need to provide basic information such as name, birth date, social security number, phone number and email. Applicants do not need to upload any documents or tax records with their application, but they will be required to check a box stating that all of the information listed is true, according to the NPR article.
The U.S. Department of Education will match the information from applications to the information on file, and if discrepancies are found applications will need to provide documentation.
The department plans to process applications quickly, as they hope to discharge as many debts as they can before student loan payments resume in January. Borrowers should only have to wait “a matter of weeks” to see their debts canceled, according to a senior administration official in the NPR article.
According to the official, about 95% of borrowers should meet the income thresholds to secure loan relief.
