This smells like a bad party trick than actual loan forgiveness.
Why not apply it across the board automatically?
Why limit the application period to about six weeks??
Why build a website that will probably choke the second you try to access it???
Why make it complicated by saying $20k forgiveness if you had a Pell grant, but otherwise max $10k????
Seems like they don’t really want to provide the debt jubilee. Just something to get the votes.
⚠️ BTW, if you haven’t already created an FSA ID to login to the site, be aware that it takes about 3 days for them to verify your account request! Not the application, but just to get your account before you can request the application……….
And, of course, it’s not accessible from outside the States… You have to either have a friend (or family member) within the States fill it out on your behalf… Or, use AWS Workspaces in the Oregon region to access it. The later option requires significant technical knowledge of AWS. The reason I’m not recommending VPN is that it is often blocked as well. The cheapest option is a friend or family member over a phone call.
UPDATE 1
StudentAid.Gov - error
An unknown error has occurred. Please try again later or close all browser windows and start over.
Please note that if you get this error, then you will need to clear your browser cache and/or try another web browser. Seems the issue is how the server expects everything to be done within an undocumented time period. If you take too long to complete the application, you will encounter this error.
UPDATE 2
In October, six-republican led States have filed injunctions against the Biden administration. The lawsuit is known as Nebraska v. Biden, filed by six conservative state attorney generals.
The states — Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina — argue that debt cancellation would hurt their revenues as well as the revenues of MOHELA, a student loan servicer based in Missouri. They also say the administration does not have authority under the HEROES Act to forgive the debt, which is the law they are using.
To get the injunction they seek, which would stop the forgiveness program before it can be implemented, the attorneys general must prove that forgiveness will cause irreparable harm, says Luke Herrine, an assistant law professor at the University of Alabama.
“Standing is the first battleground,” says Herrine. “The bottom line is even if they can show they are the proper plaintiff, it’s not clear they’ll be able to show the cancellation should be stopped from happening.”
There are multiple other lawsuits against the relief effort, but Herrine says Nebraska v. Biden is the “most plausible” to move forward.
Richie Bartlett
These law suits are lead by corporations with a vested interest in collecting FEEs from poor students. It has nothing to do with the legality of the law. Rather it’s pushed for the greedy interest of companies that should not exist! Education, medicine, and government should not be a capitalist enterprise. Education and health should be a public safety-net funded entirely by government programs that the public pays into… Instead the States has a perverted system of funding the research while the companies that perform the research are operating risk-free. The public assumes all the risk, but gain none of the profits.
Reference
- https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief/application
- https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement/
- https://fortune.com/2022/10/24/lawsuits-blocking-bidens-student-loan-forgiveness-plan/
- https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/25/23420652/supreme-court-student-loan-cancellation-forgiveness-debt-nebraska-biden