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Readers: How will student loan forgiveness impact you?

The Department of Education will forgive $39 billion in student loan debt for over 800,000 people.

Demonstrators in favor of cancelling student debt march from the Supreme Court to the White House in Washington, June 30, 2023.  Kenny Holston/The New York Times

By Laura Emde

1 minute to read

The U.S. Department of Education announced Friday it will forgive $39 billion in student loan debt for over 800,000 people after many borrowers continued to make loan payments after they were no longer required.

Borrowers qualify for student loan forgiveness if they’ve made between 240 to 300 monthly loan payments. Those who reach this number have typically been paying for about 20 to 25 years. The required amount of payments will vary from borrower to borrower. 

This announcement comes two weeks after the Supreme Court voted against President Joe Biden’s new student debt plan. This plan would have forgiven $400 billion in student debt for millions of people. The Supreme Court stated the plan was an overstep of the Biden administration’s authority.

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Massachusetts politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley called on Biden to use his remaining powers to cancel student debt.

“The fight is not over. The President has more tools to cancel student debt — and he must use them,” Warren said in a tweet June 30. “More than 40 million hard working Americans are waiting for the help that President Biden promised them, and they expect this administration to throw everything they’ve got into the fight until they make good on this commitment.”

After the Supreme Court ruling, Boston.com asked readers to share whether or not they agreed with the Court’s decision. Eighty-three percent of readers supported the decision. However, many readers shared how having to pay back their student loans would be financially devastating.

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With this new initiative from the Department of Education, we want to hear from you again. Are you one of the over 800,000 people eligible for student loan forgiveness through the Department of Education? How will student debt forgiveness impact you? Fill out the survey below or e-mail [email protected] and your response may appear in a future Boston.com article.

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