16 Million Americans To Receive Student Loan Debt Relief Approval By This Week

Student Loan Default — The delinquency rate for student loans exceeds that for all other types of debt. More than 1 in 4 student loan borrowers recently missed a payment. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

Biden noted that the student loan forgiveness program is currently put on hold by the 8th Circuit
It remains unclear what the 8th circuit will ultimately decide in the case
The delay in decision could mean student loan borrowers will need to resume their payments in January

Millions of Americans who applied for student loan debt relief will be approved by the end of the week, President Joe Biden has said.

Speaking at the Central New Mexico Community College on Thursday, Biden said the Education Department will have approved at least 16 million requests from student-loan borrowers who applied through the online form at studentaid.gov.

"By the end of this week, the Department of Education will have approved applications of 16 million Americans and sent the necessary paperwork to student loan servicers — the last step before the 16 million Americans can have their loan discharged," Biden said in his remarks, The Hill reported.

The president also said that Americans "should be seeing the relief in the coming days," but noted that the program was put on hold by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 21. The temporary hold is in response to a lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states who argued that student loan forgiveness would hurt their states' tax revenues.

Biden previously predicted that his administration would win the case and that the student loan checks would arrive in the coming weeks. However, it remains unclear what the 8th circuit will ultimately decide in the case.

The delay in the decision could mean that student loan borrowers would likely have to resume their payments in January, as per Business Insider.

Nearly 26 million Americans have applied for student loan relief as of Thursday, according to Biden. The administration opened the application on Oct. 14. Borrowers will have until Dec. 31, 2023, to submit an application.

If the program pushes forward, individual student-loan borrowers who made less than $125,000 and married couples or heads of households who earned under $250,000 in 2020 and 2021 may see up to $10,000 of their federal student loan debt forgiven.

Qualifying borrowers who also received a federal Pell grant could receive up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness, according to CNN. Student loan borrowers can log into their Federal Student Aid account to check whether they have been given Pell grants.