Over 26 million Americans have either applied for student debt cancellation or received notice that they will be approved for cancellation if they do not opt out since the application opened in mid-October. That’s roughly 1 in every 10 American adults. If you are one of those 26 million people, by now you’ve probably heard […]

Good news:  The online application for the Biden Administration’s student debt cancellation is now officially open!  And the application is fast and easy–you don’t need to submit any documents or even log-in to your StudentAid.gov account.  It will probably take you 5 minutes or less to apply.  You can apply now on your cell phone […]

On October 6, 2021, the Department of Education announced it would temporarily change the rules for PSLF so that more borrowers could obtain cancellation. The waiver will only last until October 31, 2022. Borrowers will need to take steps prior to October 31, 2022 in order to qualify for the waiver.  While the PSLF waiver […]

Cancellation Checklist On August 24, 2022, President Biden announced a plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans to help borrowers recover from the pandemic as the payment pause ends. Under the plan, if you received a Pell grant to help pay for your education, and you earn less than $125,000 per year […]

On  April 6, 2022, President Biden directed the U.S. Department of Education to extend the coronavirus-related payment suspension and 0% interest rate on certain federal student loans for four months. The payment suspension was due to expire at the end of April, but it is now extended to August 31, 2022.   Fresh Start for Borrowers in Default The […]

By Abby Shafroth and Persis Yu Earlier today, an NPR investigative report revealed sweeping problems plaguing a federal student loan program intended to provide borrowers affordable monthly payments and loan forgiveness after two decades in repayment. The investigation found that on top of previously documented problems with loan servicer misconduct preventing borrowers from accessing and staying enrolled […]

Did you attend a predatory school? Please share your story with us here.  A borrower defense to repayment (“borrower defense”) allows borrowers who were misled, defrauded, or subject to illegal behavior by their school to discharge the federal student loan debt they borrowed to attend the school. Borrowers can request a discharge by submitting an […]

On December 22, 2021, President Biden directed the U.S. Department of Education to extend the coronavirus-related payment suspension and 0% interest rate on certain federal student loans for an additional 90 days. The payment suspension was due to expire at the end of January, but it is now extended to May 1, 2022.   Here’s what borrowers need to […]

In August, the Department announced that it would automatically discharge the loans of over 323,000 disabled borrowers. These borrowers were identified through a matching program with the Social Security Administration (SSA). This announcement follows the Department’s 2019 decision to automatically discharge the loans of veterans with a service-connected disability. The VA auto discharge program is […]

Last month, the Department reversed a DeVos era notice which said that federal student loan servicers were not subject to state consumer protection laws. The Devos interpretation said that states’ laws that protect borrowers from servicers’ false and misleading practices were “preempted” by the Higher Education Act (HEA). Preemption is a legal doctrine in which […]