Sixteen million Americans with student debt will soon get their application for forgiveness approved — though the cancellation won’t appear on their accounts while a legal challenge from Republican-led states plays out in court.
Nearly 26 million have applied to student loan relief so far, the White House announced Thursday, and the Department of Education has continued to accept and process applications while a court appeal from GOP attorneys general plays out.
President Joe Biden on Thursday was traveling to New Mexico to speak about the debt relief plan at a community college there, one of his final trips before the midterm elections end on Tuesday. He’ll carry on from there to campaign for Rep. Mike Levin in California.
The Biden administration has said about 40 million people could be eligible for student debt relief. Americans can apply for the program if they make less than $125,000 per year. Many will get up to $10,000 in forgiveness, while people who took a Pell grant during school are eligible for up to $20,000.
Education officials have urged Americans to apply this fall and winter in order to have their loans potentially forgiven before federal loan payments and interest restart in January. They have been paused due to the pandemic since former president Donald Trump first implemented relief.
Biden in New Mexico will highlight a state program to provide tuition-free college.
The White House said 37% of the students at Central New Mexico Community College, where he’ll speak, are Pell grant recipients, and 54% are Latino. Nearly half of student loan debt held by Latino borrowers is expected to be canceled, they estimate.
The president on Thursday is expected to warn that Republicans would try to block student loan relief if they were in power.
That’s what GOP attorneys general from six states have tried to do with their lawsuit, and they’ve been temporarily successful.
A federal judge in St. Louis threw out their case because it lacked standing, but allowed a temporary stay on the Education Department’s ability to hand out relief while the group appealed. He ordered an expedited briefing schedule on the case as the court considers a full block on the forgiveness plan.
