President Joe Biden’s Aug. 24, 2022, announcement on student loan forgiveness will impact many people in the University of Utah community. It also has led to many questions about just who will benefit, and how those benefits can be accessed. The most comprehensive resource on loan forgiveness is the U.S. Department of Education’s website. There you will find information about who qualifies for loan forgiveness, how to access that loan forgiveness and how loan repayment will proceed in the future. The U’s current understanding is the announced loan forgiveness is for federal student loans disbursed prior to July 1, 2022

While the University Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid at the U does work with federal student loan programs, it does not have a role in the current debt relief program. Please know that if you contact that office, you will likely be referred to the Department of Education’s website.

Here are preliminary steps you can take to learn more about debt forgiveness:

• Contact your federal student loan provider to understand your student loan and other financial aid balances.
  • • If you do not know who your loan provider is, visit the Federal Student Aid website or log into your Federal Student Aid account.
• Verify the contact information your loan provider has is correct so they can get in touch with you about next steps.
• Prepare for loan repayment to begin. The federal student loan freeze will end in January 2023. If you still have a loan balance after your qualifying amount of debt relief, you are expected to begin making payments again at that time. However, note that if the loan forgiveness has not occurred before January 2023, you will be required to resume repayment then.

An estimated 43 million people will benefit from loan forgiveness. The sheer volume of loans being assessed means some questions may not be answered immediately. The best advice is to be patient, keep all pertinent loan information on hand and document your interactions and loan balances at every step of the process.

As more information becomes available, we will have it for you in @theU.