--- title: Borrowers Eager for Student Loan Forgiveness Now Have to Wait Longer to Apply description: Applications for Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program won't be available until Oct. 17 at the earliest, and there could be delays. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 501 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ published: '2022-10-07T17:11:13.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:29:16.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - News word_count: 491 canonical: https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-apply-delay/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Students Walking In University of Pennsylvania](https://img.money.com/2022/10/News-When-Student-Loan-Forgiveness-Start.jpg) *University of Pennsylvania* Millions of federal student loan borrowers will likely have to wait until at least mid-October to [apply for debt forgiveness](https://money.com/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-how-to-apply/) — weeks later than originally expected. President Joe Biden’s broad federal [student debt forgiveness plan](https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-who-qualifies/) is facing several [legal hurdles](https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-lawsuit/). Chief among them: Republican attorneys general in six states are challenging the constitutionality of Biden’s plan in court. A [court docket](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65385675/14/state-of-nebraska-v-biden/) publicly uploaded Thursday suggests the program’s rollout is getting delayed. The Biden Administration “will not discharge any student loan debt pursuant to the policy challenged in this case before October 17, 2022,” the docket states. Additionally, a federal judge for the case has scheduled a hearing on Oct. 12 to decide whether to grant an injunction on [Biden’s forgiveness program](https://money.com/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-faq/). In other words, if the judge imposes the injunction, the Biden Administration will have to pause forgiveness while the lawsuit plays out in court — with potential to drastically extend the timeline or tank the forgiveness program entirely. Biden’s federal student loan forgiveness plan seeks to wipe out up to $20,000 for most borrowers who received a need-based Pell Grant and up to $10,000 for non-Pell borrowers, so long as they meet an annual individual income cap of $125,000. Earlier this week, a senior administration official told reporters on background that the date mentioned in the court docket will not affect the release date of the application. However, in prior weeks, officials repeatedly stated that the application would be released for borrowers to fill out in “early October.” Now, [the FAQ section](https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement/one-time-cancellation) of studentaid.gov simply says “October 2022.” ## What else to know about applying for student loan forgiveness Once the application is live some time this month — barring any additional setbacks — borrowers can expect a fairly easy-to-complete form. Administration officials have said numerous times since the program’s announcement that the goal is to keep the application as simple as possible. In fact, the Education Department says that it has enough information on approximately 8 million borrowers that no application will be needed from them whatsoever. Everyone else who believes they [qualify for forgiveness](https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-who-qualifies/) will have to fill out a short form that essentially promises the federal government that the information you’re providing is correct under penalty of perjury. No additional paperwork is required to prove your eligibility. “You won't need your FSA ID, and you won't need to upload any documents to submit your application,” an FAQ on studentaid.gov states. “Our goal is to provide borrowers a seamless and simple experience, and we're working closely with the servicers who will process the relief.” At least initially, the application will be available only online. It’s expected to remain open until Dec. 31, 2023. Once the application is completed, it could take about four to six weeks for the qualifying loans to be forgiven. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-apply-delay/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Student Loan Debt", "item": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Borrowers Eager for Student Loan Forgiveness Now Have to Wait Longer to Apply" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-apply-delay/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-apply-delay/", "name": "Borrowers Eager for Student Loan Forgiveness Now Have to Wait Longer to Apply", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-10-07T17:11:13.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-apply-delay/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-apply-delay/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:29:16.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Borrowers Eager for Student Loan Forgiveness Now Have to Wait Longer to Apply", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/10/News-When-Student-Loan-Forgiveness-Start.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-When-Student-Loan-Forgiveness-Start" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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