The White House announced that it has already approved more than 16 million of the student debt relief applications it has received.
The White House announced on the 27th through the FACT SHEET, “A total of 26 million people in 50 states have applied for debt relief, and more than 16 million of them have completed the approval process.” According to the fact sheet, 26.26 million people applied and 16.486 million were approved.
By state, the number of student loans approved for forgiveness was 429,000 in Virginia (685,000 total applicants) and 323,000 in Maryland (522,000 total applicants). However, even if approval is granted, the benefits of indemnity are not immediately realized.
In August of last year, the Biden administration issued an executive order to forgive up to $20,000 for federal student loan debtors and began accepting applications in October.
However, it has not been implemented in practice as opposition lawsuits from the Republican side have been filed one after another.
In November of last year, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order barring the implementation of the student loan debt relief program in response to a lawsuit brought by six Republican states.
Then, in the same month, the Texas District Court ruled that President Biden’s administrative order for student loan relief was unconstitutional in response to a lawsuit filed by the conservative group’ Job Creation Network Foundation’ (JCNF), and even the application for student loan debt relief was suspended.
The Biden administration expressed its dissatisfaction with the successive court decisions, and eventually the Federal Supreme Court made the final decision on whether to implement student loan debt relief.
The Supreme Court plans to hear the student loan debt relief lawsuit on February 29. According to the Student Loan Forgiveness website (studentaid.gov), student loan repayment begins 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order on August 24 of last year, saying that up to $10,000 will be forgiven when an individual earns an annual income of $125,000 and a couple earns less than $250,000. And he agreed to write off up to $20,000 for those receiving a Pell Grant for the poor.