The Biden administration launched an online portal that will allow individuals with federal student loans to apply for up to $20,000 in debt forgiveness, formally kicking off a program threatened by an array of legal challenges, the Wall Street Journal reported. More than eight million people applied for relief over the weekend following the Education Department’s launch of a beta test version of the application, the administration said. Mr. Biden said the testing period was deemed a success by the Education Department’s leadership, allowing the administration to officially launch the application on Monday. The online application is available in English and Spanish and can be accessed via a computer or mobile phone. The application requires only basic information from borrowers, including their legal names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers and email addresses. Most people can complete the application in just a few minutes, White House officials said. The program will forgive up to $10,000 in debt for federal student-loan borrowers, or up to $20,000 for borrowers who received Pell Grants when they were in college. Borrowers who make less than $125,000 a year, or less than $250,000 a year for a household, are eligible for the program. A borrower’s income will be based on adjusted gross income from 2020 or 2021. GOP leaders in Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kansas and Iowa are seeking to stop the administration’s effort to write off hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt. Attorneys for the Biden administration and the states challenging the plan squared off at a federal court hearing last week that left the fate of the loan forgiveness in limbo. Other lawsuits have been filed by an array of conservative groups, as well as Arizona’s attorney general.
