New debt relief plan will forgive federal student loans for 5,000 Idahoans

More than 5,000 Idahoans can expect to see their federal student loans forgiven in the coming weeks, according to a Tuesday press release from the U.S. Department of Education.

On Friday, the Department of Education and the White House announced that it will provide $39 billion in automatic loan relief to 804,000 federal student loan borrowers across the U.S. 

Of that number, the federal government will forgive $252.9 million to 5,072 Idahoans with student loans, according to state-by-state data provided in Tuesday’s press release. 

The Department of Education announced the debt relief plan two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to strike down the Biden administration’s student debt relief program that would have canceled up to $20,000 in student loan debt for some borrowers.

Who qualifies for the student loan relief?

According to the press release, the new plan addresses the “historical failures” of the federal student loan program in which many borrowers who made payments under income-driven repayment plans did not have their payments accurately accounted for. 

Under income-driven repayment plans, borrowers are supposed to be eligible for loan forgiveness after 20 years of payments, States Newsroom previously reported. However, a 2021 report from the National Consumer Law Center found that more than 4 million borrowers had been making payments for at least 20 years, but only 32 had their debts forgiven. 

Under the new forgiveness plan, borrowers who have accumulated the equivalent of 20 or 25 years of qualifying months, depending on their loan type and income-driven repayment plan, qualify for the forgiveness. 

According to the Department of Education, qualifying borrowers do not have to provide any action on their part to receive the debt relief. Discharges for the loan forgiveness will take place within the next 30 days, and borrowers will be notified by their servicer after their debt is discharged.

Borrowers who wish to opt out of the discharge for any reason should contact their loan servicer. Those receiving forgiveness will have repayment on those loans paused until their discharge is processed, while those who opt out of the discharge will return to repayment once payments resume.