Student loan repayments restarted last fall after President Biden’s forgiveness plan was stopped by the Supreme Court.
Still, the president and Department of Education are working to forgive as many loans as possible and with a new plan proposed, news around student loan forgiveness can be confusing.
Here’s the latest on who is eligible for student loan forgiveness, plus how some Oklahoma student loan borrowers may qualify for a forbearance on loan payments after recent severe storms.
Oklahoma disaster relief student loan forbearance
When a natural disaster is declared in your area, your student loan provider may grant a forbearance on student loan payments up to 90 days, and any interest that accrues during the period will not be added to the principal balance of your loan.
Twenty-three Oklahoma counties have been declared disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding between Apr 25 and May 9.
If you’re in one of the following counties, check with your student loan provider as you may be eligible for a forbearance on paying your student loans:
- Carter
- Craig
- Coal
- Cotton
- Haskell
- Hughes
- Johnston
- Kay
- Lincoln
- Love
- McClain
- Murray
- Nowata
- Okfuskee
- Okmulgee
- Osage
- Ottawa
- Pittsburg
- Pontotoc
- Pottawatomie
- Tillman
- Washington
- Washita
Who is eligible for student loan forgiveness?
In April, the Biden Administration announced new plans for student loan forgiveness.
If implemented as proposed, the following borrowers would be eligible to have some or all of their student loan debt forgiven:
- Up to $20,000 in interest could be canceled for borrowers who have accrued or capitalized interest on their loans since entering repayment, especially those who owe more than their original loan amount thanks to “runaway interest.”
- Borrowers who qualify for debt relief under income-driven repayment plans or public service loan forgiveness but are not enrolled in those programs.
- Borrowers who have been paying on undergraduate loans for at least 20 years, or graduate loans for at least 25 years.
- Borrowers who were enrolled in “low-financial-value programs.”
- Borrowers who are experiencing hardship in their lives keeping them from fully paying off their loans now or in the future.
How do I know if I qualify for student loan forgiveness?
There are a variety of ways you could qualify for student loan forgiveness, outside of Biden’s most recent proposals.
The most common way to receive debt relief is through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which teachers, government employees, nonprofit employees and medical professionals can typically qualify for.
Other reasons you may qualify for loan forgiveness include:
- If your school closed or misled you.
- If you’re a Federal Perkins Loan borrower.
- If you’re a parent borrower.
- If you’re a victim of forgery.
- If you’ve declared bankruptcy.
- If the borrower or student for whom a loan was taken out dies.
What to know about Navient private loan forgiveness
While student loan forgiveness offered by the Biden Administration and Department of Education only applies to federally-owned or backed student loans, some private loan borrowers may have a pathway to debt relief.
According to Forbes, private loan provider Navient has quietly released an application for private student loan forgiveness for borrowers who were defrauded by or experienced misconduct at theirs chools.
The application is only open to those with Navient private student loans, and borrowers must provide supporting documents with their application.
