Federal student loan forgiveness: key dates borrowers need to know

As with any policy of this scale, there are several hurdles to the forgiveness actually being applied to borrower accounts—not least of which are multiple lawsuits brought by conservative and libertarian groups still making their way through the federal court system.

But the U.S. Department of Education and the White House remain undeterred, encouraging borrowers to fill out the application—which asks for basic identifying information and for borrowers to self-certify their income—and setting firm dates for the loan relief to be applied.

Here are the most important dates for borrowers to know so far.

Oct. 23, 2022

This is the earliest date the Department of Education has said it will forgive any debt. It is possible this date could be moved forward or moved back, depending on what happens with multiple lawsuits involving the relief plan.

Oct. 31, 2022

Unrelated to the one-time forgiveness effort but an important date for some borrowers nonetheless, the waiver to count additional payments toward the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program expires at the end of Oct.

Under this waiver, which the Biden administration released last year, borrowers who qualify for PSLF can have certain past ineligible payments counted toward the 120 total they need to have their debt completely forgiven.

One important clarification: This isn’t the end of the PSLF program; just the deadline to apply for the temporary waiver. Those who are pursuing PSLF can continue to do so, they just won’t be able to have past payments counted toward their progress.

And if you don’t qualify for PSLF, applying for this program will not help you.

Nov. 14, 2022

This is the deadline for borrowers receiving automatic forgiveness to opt out, if they so choose. It is also the date that the Biden administration has said they will wait to start processing any of the automatic relief.

Mid-November, 2022

The date by which borrowers should apply for forgiveness if they want it to take effect by the start of 2023, when payments are set to resume after a near-34-month pause. The Department of Education has said it will take an estimated four to six weeks to process applications.

January 2023

Federal student loan repayments start again after an almost three year-pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.

December 31, 2023

The deadline to apply for student loan forgiveness. Those who previously opted out of automatic forgiveness also have until this date to apply if they change their mind.