After multiple years of promises from the campaign trail and passing pauses on payments, the Biden administration has finally kept its campaign promise of $10,000 in student loan forgiveness as well as steps to change the current loan system, but what does that mean for UW Oshkosh students?

According to sudentaid.gov, a three-part plan will be enacted to accomplish debt relief to current and former students. 

The parts of this are a final student loan pause extension, providing targeted debt relief to low- and middle-class students and improving the loan system for current and future borrowers.

The payment pauses, which have been a staple of the administration, will go all the way through December, with payments resuming at the top of the new year in 2023. 

This change will occur automatically and will not require any input from the debtor.

To better target low- and middle-income families, the administration will provide up to $10,000 for borrowers earning less than $125,000 yearly and households earning less than $250,000. 

For those who received Pell grants, there is an additional $10,000 available. 

Finally, borrowers who are employed by non-profits, the military or federal, state, tribal or local government may be eligible to have all loans forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

The final step of the plan will be set in place to prevent future crises.

 It will accomplish this through lowering the amount of discretionary income on monthly loans, raise the amount of income that is protected from payment, forgive balances under $12,000 after ten years and cover unpaid monthly interest.

This all follows multiple years of promises from the Democratic party of how to help those indebted from school loans whether they earned a degree or not.

The PSLF program will apply to current and past students.

With steady action following this, the current student debt crisis may be unknown to future generations.

In order to find out your status and apply for the Pell grant, visit studentaid.gov.