The Department of Education has opened up the application process for student loan forgiveness, launching the website in a beta period on Friday evening. Borrowers can submit their applications, but they will not be processed until the website launches officially later this month.
“Tonight, the Department of Education will begin beta testing the student debt relief website. During the beta testing period, borrowers will be able to submit applications for the Biden-Harris Administration’s student debt relief program,” a spokesperson for the Department of Education told CNN.
While borrowers will not have their applications processed, they will receive a confirmation email.
To qualify, borrowers must have had their loans through the federal government. Those who had their loans guaranteed by the government but held by a private company are no longer eligible after President Biden limited the program in hopes of ensuring that it survives legal challenges. Those who applied to have their consolidated into federal loans before that announcement, September 29, will still be eligible to have them forgiven.
The program is facing several lawsuits from conservatives and Republicans. On Wednesday, a preliminary injunction was filed, asking a judge to halt the loan forgiveness program. If the judge rules in favor of the injunction, it may delay the program until a judge issues a final judgment in the case.
The Department of Education hopes to have applications processed by January when the student loan payment pause is set to expire. If they fail to do that either because of the lawsuits or unforeseen problems, then the Biden administration may have to pause payments again.
The website is launching in beta to allow the Department of Education to monitor its performance and use before it launches in full. When Healthcare.gov launched in 2013 as part of the Affordable Care Act, it infamously ran into a myriad of issues, frustrating users and becoming a headache for the Obama administration.
In October when the lawsuits were filed, higher education and legal expert Mark Kantrowitz told CNBC that borrowers should apply as soon as possible. Even if Republican attempts to block the program are successful, either temporarily or permanently, borrowers may still have their loans forgiven if they are approved before a court intervenes.
The website is expected to launch in full later this month. It is available at https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief/application.