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Education

You can now apply for Biden's student loan relief plan. Here's how

Good news for more than 40 million Americans who are burdened with student loans. They can now apply for student loan forgiveness online. KPBS reporter Kitty Alvarado has details.

Updated October 17, 2022 at 4:22 PM ET

On Monday, President Biden announced the application for his student loan relief program is officially live.

The administration published a beta version of the application last week. Since its launch on Friday, more than 8 million borrowers have already applied for debt relief, with no reported glitches or crashes according to the White House.

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"It's easy. It's fast," Biden said in a press conference announcing the launch, noting applications take less than 5 minutes and can be done on desktop or phone.

"This is a game changer for millions of Americans to get moving."

Biden's plan is to cancel up to $10,000 in debt for those earning less than $125,000 per year and up to $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants.

The application asks for borrowers' name, date of birth and social security number, among other things. The form is available in both English and Spanish on desktop and mobile sites. It will be open through Dec. 31, 2023.

Borrowers will not need what's known as an FSA ID to log into the application, nor will they need to upload any documents, including tax records. Instead of having to provide documents that verify that you, as an individual, earned less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021 or, as a couple, less than $250,000, the application simply asks borrowers to check a box to "certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that all of the information provided on this form is true and correct."

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The administration estimates more than 40 million people will be eligible for the relief program.

Cory Turner and Deepa Shivaram contributed to this report. contributed to this story

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