就在联邦学生贷款计划在暂停两年后恢复偿还的一周前，美国总统乔·拜登周三宣布了一项全面的新政策取消数百万美国人的债务改革未来的支付流程。
靠佩尔助学金(Pell grants)上大学的学生，如果年收入低于12.5万美元，他们的联邦贷款将减少多达2万美元。佩尔助学金是联邦政府发放给低收入家庭学生的，他们只能为自己的学费贡献一定的金额。收入低于125，000美元的非佩尔借款人的联邦贷款将减少10，000美元。
总统还调整了借款人每月必须支付的金额，并将联邦暂停还款的时间延长至年底。
虽然借款人应该在接下来的几天和几周内密切关注教育部的具体细节，但这里是迄今为止需要知道的一切。
这对谁有帮助?
拜登的计划将为在2020或2021纳税年度年收入低于12.5万美元或家庭收入低于25万美元的美国人免除至少1万美元的联邦学生贷款债务。
对于同样收入水平的美国人来说，他们申请佩尔助学金来支付大学费用，这将额外免除10，000美元的债务，使总免除额达到20，000美元。
收入上限是指调整后的总收益DOE发言人告诉ABC新闻，指的是已经排除退休计划缴款、赡养费和某些其他费用的收入。
undefined
现在的学生也有资格获得联邦贷款减免，只要他们的父母符合收入标准，单身供养者为12.5万美元，共同报税的已婚夫妇为25万美元。
这项豁免适用于任何在2022年7月前贷款的人。
拜登在周三的一次演讲中表示，95%的借款人将从他的计划中获得一些减免，即4500万学生借款人中的4300万人。
他说，近45%，即2000万人的债务将被完全取消。
美国能源部的数据显示，消除哪怕是1万美元的债务，也能结清约三分之一联邦贷款借款人的余额。普林斯顿大学和加州大学默塞德分校的一项纳入收入的分析得出了同样的结论。
拜登说，对于仍有贷款继续偿还的另一半借款人，能源部将修改条款。
大学生贷款的最低月还款额将从人们可自由支配收入的10%降至5%，而被视为非可自由支配收入(或免于偿还的收入)的金额将提高，以保证年收入相当于每小时最低工资15美元的借款人不必每月还款。
该计划还将确保原始贷款额为12，000美元或更少的人在10年付款后将获得余额豁免，这比最初的20年时间表有所下降。
美国能源部估计，这一变化将使社区大学毕业生在10年内无债一身轻。
“我认为，政府正试图从结构上解决困扰不方便支付系统的许多问题。学生借款人保护中心(Student借方Protection Center)的政策主管兼管理顾问佩西·于(Persis Yu)说，这是一家专注于减轻学生债务的领先倡导组织。
债务取消何时生效?
一些借款人将立即获得取消债务的资格。但专家告诉ABC新闻，更有可能的是，对绝大多数借款人来说，这需要几个月的时间。
在周三上午的新闻发布会上，白宫表示，能源部将在未来几天公布相关细节。
有些人需要提交一份“简单的申请”studentaid.gov一名白宫官员表示，这表明他们达到了收入上限，而大约800万人将会看到他们的债务被自动取消，因为能源部已经掌握了他们的信息。
但由于能源部没有其他三分之二借款人的收入数据，他们需要获得这些借款人的授权才能从国内税收署获得这些数据，否则借款人将不得不证明他们的收入，否则将受到伪证罪的处罚，金融援助专家马克·坎特罗威茨在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时表示。
“所以你可能会让一些借款人在一两个月内立即获得宽恕，然后一些借款人需要几个月的时间，他们必须完成那份表格，”坎特罗威茨说。
“我建议所有借款人做的一件事是，确保你的联系信息、邮寄地址、电子邮件地址或电话号码与你的贷款服务商和studentaid.gov网站，”坎特罗威茨说。
在周三晚些时候的新闻发布会上，拜登的国内政策顾问苏珊·赖斯告诉记者，“今天任何人都可以去studentaid.gov并提供他们的电子邮件地址，当网站可供人们填写一个非常简单的简短表格来证明他们的收入并获得资格时，他们会收到通知。"
但对于人们来说，申请有多“简单”，有多少人知道它，是债务减免倡导者关心的一个问题，他们认为复杂的过程可能会阻止人们利用新政策。
“有很多低收入人群永远也不会了解这个应用程序。他们将无法解决这个问题，他们将没有足够的资源来通过官僚程序，”于说。“因此，在设置这个障碍时，我们实际上是为最需要它的人设置了一个障碍。”
俞认为，解决方案应该是大范围的取消，而不是试图根据人们的收入来确定目标，这将使这一过程更容易由能源部执行。
2022年8月24日，乔·拜登总统在白宫罗斯福厅宣布学生贷款减免。
Olivier Douliery/法新社
这将花费政府多少钱?
宾夕法尼亚大学商学院最近的一项研究发现，消除1万美元的学生贷款债务将花费约3000亿美元。根据报告，如果该计划持续10年，成本将达到3300亿美元，如果没有收入限制，成本将达到3440亿美元。
每月贷款额的变化也会影响成本，但白宫周三拒绝透露具体细节，只是说成本将在一段时间内分散，难以估计。
“作为一个过程，确定成本影响相当复杂，”一名白宫官员表示。
由于联邦政府支持许多学生贷款，美国纳税人可能会为此买单——拜登周三直接谈到了这一点，他将取消学生债务与薪酬保护计划进行了比较，薪酬保护计划是一项针对受新冠肺炎疫情影响的企业的贷款豁免计划。
“没有人抱怨这些贷款导致了通货膨胀。小企业中的许多人都在中产阶级家庭工作。他们需要帮助。这是应该做的事情，”拜登说。
他说:“因此，我认为，用学生贷款帮助劳动人民的暴行是完全错误的，大错特错。”。
他还反驳了共和党人，他指出，在前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的领导下，共和党人通过了一项大规模减税措施，使许多美国富人和企业受益，共和党认为此举有助于经济。
相比之下，拜登周三表示，他的计划将惠及“中产阶级和工薪家庭”。它对当前和未来的借款人都有帮助。它将修复一个严重受损的系统。”
这一政策是否兑现了拜登的竞选承诺?
虽然总统确实承诺取消10，000美元的学生贷款债务——他现在已经兑现了这一承诺——但这只是他改革高等教育体系的誓言之一。
许多希望看到拜登做更多事情的批评者指出，作为候选人，他还提议免除年收入低于125，000美元、上过两年或四年公立大学的本科生的所有学费贷款债务，正如他在2020年的一篇媒体文章中所写的那样。
“联邦政府将代替借款人支付月付款，直到贷款的可原谅部分还清。拜登当时写道:“这项福利也适用于持有联邦学生贷款的个人，他们可以从私立哈佛商学院和麻省理工学院获得学费。
这一承诺导致一些进步人士赞扬了迄今为止的进展，但仍呼吁取得更多进展。
“虽然没有我们要求的那么高，但总统的这一关键步骤兑现了他的竞选承诺，回应了中国共产党、黑人党团、拉美裔党团和全国数百万人的呼吁，以解决学生债务的严重问题，”国会进步党团周三在一份声明中说。
学生借款人保护中心的于(音译)也对这一举措表示赞同，但她表示，用批判的眼光来看待这一举措也很重要。
“我们非常兴奋地看到他采取这一大胆的行动，这是他承诺的事情之一，”于说。
但由于拜登承诺取消所有人的债务，而目前的政策是为一定收入以下的人量身定制的，于表示，其积极影响仍有待观察。“我认为真正的考验应该是:我们是否能够让所有有资格获得救助的借款人都获得救助?这将是对他是否信守竞选承诺的真正考验。”
距离中期选举还有大约两个月的时间，消除一些借款人的联邦贷款债务是否会提振拜登的水下支持率仍有待观察。
该计划也可能面临那些因为学费而选择不上大学的人的反对。
为此，新政策还规定，符合收入要求且最近还清贷款的借款人可以申请10，000美元的退款或自2020年3月13日以来的付款总额。
Biden's student loan forgiveness policy: How to apply, who qualifies, more
Just a week before repayments on federal student loans were scheduled to resume after a two-year pause, President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a sweeping new policyto cancel debt for millions of Americansand reform the payment process going forward.
Students who attended college on Pell grants -- federal dollars awarded to low-income students who can only contribute a certain amount toward their tuition -- will owe up to $20,000 less on their federal loans if they make under $125,000 per year. And non-Pell borrowers making less than $125,000 will owe up to $10,000 less on their federal loans.
The president is also adjusting how much borrowers will have to pay each month and is extending the federal pause on repayments until the end of the year.
And while borrowers should keep their eyes peeled for specific details from the Department of Education (DOE) over the next few days and weeks, here is everything to know so far.
Biden's plan will erase at least $10,000 in federal student loan debt for Americans who made less than $125,000 per year in the 2020 or 2021 tax year, or less than $250,000 as a household.
For Americans under that same income bracket who took out Pell grants to pay for college, it would erase an additional $10,000 in debt, bringing the total forgiveness up to $20,000.
The income cap refers toadjusted gross income, a DOE spokesperson told ABC News, referring to income that already excludes retirement plan contributions, alimony and certain other expenses.
Current students are also eligible for federal loan forgiveness, so long as their parents meet the income criteria of $125,000 for a single provider or $250,000 for a married couple who file their taxes jointly.
The forgiveness applies to anyone who took out their loans before July 2022.
In a speech on Wednesday, Biden said 95% of borrowers will get some relief from his plan, or a total of 43 million out of the 45 million total student borrowers.
Nearly 45%, or 20 million people, will have their debt fully canceled, he said.
DOE data shows that erasing even $10,000 of debt could settle the balances of about one-third of federal loan borrowers. An analysis from Princeton University and the University of California at Merced that incorporated incomes found the same.
And for the other half of borrowers who will still have loans to continue paying down, Biden said the DOE would be modifying the terms.
The minimum required monthly payments for undergraduate loans will be cut from 10% down to 5% of peoples' discretionary income, while the amount of income that is considered non-discretionary -- or protected from repayment -- was raised to guarantee that no borrower who is making around the annual equivalent of a $15-an-hour minimum wage will have to make monthly payments.
The plan will also ensure that people who took out an original loan of $12,000 or less will have their balance forgiven after 10 years of payments, which was brought down from the initial timeline of 20 years.
The DOE estimates that this change will allow community college graduates to be debt-free within 10 years.
"I think the administration is structurally attempting to fix many of the problems that have plagued the inconvenient payment system. Whether or not it gets the job done is going to depend on the details," said Persis Yu, policy director and managing counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center, a leading advocacy organization focused on alleviating student debt.
When will debt cancellation kick in?
Some borrowers will immediately qualify for debt cancellation. But more than likely, it will take months for the vast majority of borrowers, experts told ABC News.
In a briefing with reporters on Wednesday morning, the White House said the DOE would release details on the process in the coming days.
Some people will need to submit a "simple application" onstudentaid.govshowing that they meet the income caps, a White House official said, while about 8 million people will see their debt canceled automatically because the DOE already has their info on hand.
But because the DOE does not have income data for the other two-thirds of borrowers, they will need to receive authorization from those borrowers to obtain such data from the Internal Revenue Service -- or borrowers will have to certify their income under penalty of perjury, financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz told ABC News in an interview.
"So you might have some borrowers getting forgiveness within a month or two, immediately, and then some borrowers taking a few additional months and they would have to complete that form," Kantrowitz said.
"One thing I recommend all borrowers do is make sure your contact information, your mailing address, your email address or telephone numbers are up to date with your loan servicer and on thestudentaid.govwebsite," Kantrowitz said.
At a briefing later Wednesday, Susan Rice, Biden's domestic policy adviser, told reporters that "anybody can go today tostudentaid.govand provide their email address and they will be notified when the website is available for people to fill out a very simple short form attesting to their income and become eligible."
But just how "simple" the application is for people, and how many people know about it, is a subject of concern for debt-relief advocates who think a complicated process could keep people from taking advantage of the new policy.
"There's a lot of low-income folks who will never learn about this application. They will not be able to figure it out, they won't have the resources available to navigate the bureaucratic process," Yu said. "And so in imposing this hurdle, we're actually putting in a barrier for the folks who need it the most."
The solution, Yu argued, would be a broad cancellation that does not try to target people based on their income, which would make the process easier to execute by the DOE.
How much will this cost the government?
A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania's business school found that erasing $10,000 in student loan debt will cost about $300 billion. If the program continues for 10 years, the cost becomes $330 billion, or $344 billion if there is no income limit, per the report.
The changes to the monthly loan payments will also affect the cost, but the White House declined to give specifics on Wednesday, saying only that the cost would be spread over time and would be difficult to estimate.
"It's fairly complicated, as a process, for determining the cost implications," a White House official said.
Because the federal government backs many student loans, U.S. taxpayers will likely foot the bill -- something Biden addressed directly on Wednesday by comparing student debt cancellation to the Paycheck Protection Program, a loan forgiveness program for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"No one complained that those loans caused inflation. A lot of these folks in small businesses are working in middle-class families. They needed help. It was the right thing to do," Biden said.
"So the outrage over helping working people with student loans, I think is just simply wrong, dead wrong," he said.
He also pushed back against Republicans who he pointed out, under former President Donald Trump, passed a massive tax cut that benefited many wealthy Americans and corporations, with the GOP arguing the move aided the economy.
In contrast, Biden said Wednesday, his plan would benefit the "middle class and working families. It helps both current and future borrowers. And it'll fix a badly broken system."
Does this policy fulfill Biden's campaign promise?
While the president did pledge to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt on the trail -- a commitment he has now made good on -- that was just one of his vows around reforming the higher-education system.
Many critics who want to see Biden do more have pointed out that as a candidate he also proposed forgiving all tuition loan debt from undergraduate students that earn less than $125,000 per year and who attended two- or four-year public colleges, as he wrote in a 2020 Medium article.
"The federal government would pay the monthly payment in lieu of the borrower until the forgivable portion of the loan was paid off. This benefit would also apply to individuals holding federal student loans for tuition from private HBCUs and MSIs," Biden wrote then.
That pledge led some progressives to commend the progress so far but still call for more.
"While not as high as we called for, this crucial step from the President keeps his campaign promise and responds to calls from the CPC, the Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, and millions across the country to address the crippling issue of student debt," the Congressional Progressive Caucus said in a statement on Wednesday.
Yu, with the Student Borrower Protection Center, also applauded the move -- but said it would be important to watch the rollout with a critical eye.
"We're very excited to see him take this bold action, which is one of the things he's promised," Yu said.
But because Biden pledged debt cancellation for all, while the current policy is tailored to people under a certain income, Yu said the positive impact remains to be seen. "I think really the test will be like: Are we able to get this relief to all of the borrowers who are eligible for it? That will be the real test of whether or not he's kept his campaign promise."
With midterm elections roughly two months away, it also remains to be seen if erasing federal loan debt for some borrowers could bolster Biden's underwater approval rating.
The plan is also likely to face pushback from those who opted not to attend college altogether because of the cost of doing so.
To that end, the new policy also stipulates that borrowers who meet the income requirements and recently paid off their loans can request a $10,000 refund or the total of payments made since March 13, 2020.
