People have been saying for a long time that the government would begin implementing student loan debt forgiveness due to people’s inability to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in loans apiece. The change comes after the Government Accountability Office found numerous faults in the Department of Education’s initial estimate of how much loan forgiveness programs. Unsurprisingly, the government underestimated how many people were unable to repay their student loans.
Roughly 5.3 million borrowers with $355 billion in collective debt will be affected by the plans, which set monthly payments as a percentage of the borrowers income and extend repayment from the standard 10 years to a maximum of 25 years. After 25 years, all remaining balances will be forgiven.
The government has set up a website for anyone with untenable student loans who want to take part in the program. You can find that page here.
[via NYT]