Here’s how many IL and MO student borrowers the White House says qualify for forgiveness
More than 1.48 million Illinois borrowers will be eligible for student loan forgiveness, the White House announced Tuesday.
The Biden-Harris student debt relief plan is set to provide up to $10,000 of loan forgiveness to borrowers who did not receive a Pell Grant, and forgive $20,000 for borrowers who received a Pell Grant.
Borrowers are eligible for relief if they made less than $125,000 per year as an individual or $250,000 annually as a household in 2021 or 2020. The White House reported 1,486,600 Illinois borrowers will be eligible for relief, including 863,600 borrowers who received a Pell Grant.
The federal government estimates 777,300 Missouri borrowers will be eligible for relief, including 502,200 individuals who received Pell Grants.
“The Biden-Harris Administration expects that over 40 million borrowers are eligible for its student debt relief plan, and nearly 20 million borrowers could see their entire remaining balance discharged,” the White House announcement said.
A June study from online lending firm LendingTree reported a third of U.S. borrowers could see all their federal loans forgiven under the $10,000 forgiveness plan, with an additional 21% clearing at least half their balances. The LendingTree article cited U.S. Department of Education data, which are current as of Dec. 31, 2021.
More than 7% of the nation’s borrowers owe at least $100,000 in federal student loans, and Illinois ranked 8th in the country for the number of borrowers owing $100,000. LendingTree said 8.5% of Illinois borrowers owe at least $100,000 in federal student loans, or 130,069 individuals.
Illinois ranked 37th in the nation in LendingTree’s study for how much borrowers will benefit from forgiveness, as 31.3% of people are likely to be forgiven of all their federal student loans. Nearly 480,000 Illinois borrowers fall into that category, but many others will remain saddled with federal loans.
How can you apply for loan forgiveness?
The online application for student loan forgiveness will launch by “early October,” federal officials say, and it will close Dec. 31, 2023.
To prepare for the program, officials recommend you create an account on StudentAid.gov if you don’t already have one. You can sign up online to receive text alerts in addition to email notifications. If you have an account already, you can log in and double-check your contact information. If you haven’t logged into your account in a while, some online tips might help you access it.
Most borrowers will need to apply for the relief, officials say, but about 8 million people will receive automatic forgiveness as the federal government already has their income information. If you qualify for automatic forgiveness, you should receive a notification.
