The Biden administration has just given us our first peek at the federal student loan forgiveness portal, complete with everything you’ll need to claim up to $20K in debt relief.
For those who don’t remember, in August, Biden announced $10,000 worth of student debt relief for individual borrowers making under $125,000 and households making under $250,000. He also announced $20,000 of debt relief for Pell Grant recipients who meet the income requirements.
On Tuesday, we finally got a better understanding of how to actually get that relief money. President Joe Biden’s Education Department released a short explainer on how to apply for student loan forgiveness through their online portal. The application is set to open up later this month and run through December 31, 2023.
Assuming everything stays the same, the application itself is only three pages long. It will be available in both English and Spanish. And, according to the White House, you won’t need to upload any documents or provide your federal student aid ID.
So what do you need?
First and foremost, you’ll need to certify that you qualify for the income threshold ($125,000 for individuals and $250,000 for households). From there, you’ll need to provide your name, social security number, date of birth, email, and phone number.
Once you’ve finished applying, the Federal Student Aid division at the Department of Education (FAFSA) will review the application. However, the White House did not give a timeline on how fast those reviews will be.
Because we don’t want our readers to get scammed, make sure that you don’t apply through any sketchy websites. The White House is very clear that the application will only appear on a .gov address.
According to the White House, you can sign-up to be notified when the application will be available through this link, or you can wait for FAFSA to reach out to you!