It’s finally here! After years of campaigning on the issue, the Biden-Harris administration has announced sweeping loan forgiveness for federal student loan borrowers. This unprecedented program will allow up to $20,000 of loan forgiveness based on income levels and financial need. Here’s what you need to know.

First, let’s talk about who is eligible for this program. If you have an individual income of less than $125,000 or a household income of $250,000, you will get $10,000 in debt cancellation. Borrowers who received Pell Grants while in college will get $20,000 in loan forgiveness. And if you’re one of the millions of Americans who are currently struggling to make your student loan payments, this couldn’t come at a better time.

Next, let’s talk about how this program will work. The administration has said that they will be working with loan servicers to automatically cancel the debt for eligible borrowers if the Department of Education already has your income information on file. That means that for some borrowers you don’t have to do anything to apply for this program—the government will take care of it for you.

However, for others, you need to apply for loan forgiveness. You can apply at studentaid.gov. Make sure you fill out your application on this site instead of a fraudulent one (yes, scammers are trying to take advantage of borrowers). If you’re unsure if you fall into this category on the aforementioned one, you should fill out an application just to be safe.

Finally, let’s talk about when this program will go into effect. The administration has said that they will be working to implement this program as quickly as possible, but they didn’t give a specific timeline. Also, court challenges make it hard to predict when loan forgiveness will actually hit student loan accounts – if ever. So if you’re currently struggling with your student loans, hang in there, and email us at contact@gradmetrics.com if you have specific questions about your situation.

If you’re struggling with student loan debt, help is on the way! The Biden-Harris administration has announced sweeping loan forgiveness for federal student loan borrowers. This unprecedented program will allow up to $20,000 of your debt to be forgiven based on income levels and financial need. So if you’re one of the millions of Americans who are struggling to make your student loan payments each month, relief is on the way!