As President Joe Biden touts his student loan relief to likely voters, the Education Department has extended the deadline to consolidate loans for forgiveness to June 30.
The previous deadline was April 30, but it was shifted to accommodate those applying and to align with a payment count adjustment date set for September.
“The Department is working swiftly to ensure borrowers get credit for every month they’ve rightfully earned toward forgiveness,” Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal said in a press release. “FFEL borrowers should consolidate as soon as possible in order to receive this benefit that has already provided forgiveness to nearly 1 million borrowers.”
The Biden administration previously pursued a payment count adjustment starting in April 2022 after it found some borrowers “did not have a proper accounting of their time to forgiveness under IDR plans as well as widespread evidence that servicers had not been properly following regulations and Department contracts governing the use of forbearances, resulting in borrowers spending excessive amounts of time in forbearances.”
If borrowers consolidate their private loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program into a federal direct student loan, they could be eligible for debt relief if they’ve been making payments for around 20 years.
The extended deadline is another move from the Biden administration toward sweeping student loan relief when its previous debt relief plan was struck down by the Supreme Court in June 2023.
Biden has since offered relief in alternative ways such as tweaks to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and launching the SAVE plan.
In a fact sheet released by the White House last month, the Biden administration expressed its interest in continuing its pursuit of student loan relief and slammed Republicans for resisting.
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“While Republican elected officials try every which way to block millions of their own constituents from receiving student debt cancellation, President Biden has vowed to use every tool available to cancel student debt for as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible,” it read.
The Education Department said the Biden administration has approved almost $160 billion in relief for nearly 4.6 million borrowers so far. While a momentous amount of debt has been relieved, it’s still less than half of the $430 billion Biden initially proposed.
