When is the student loan cancelation deadline and what do you need to do?

Some student loan borrowers get another opportunity to have all or some of their student debt canceled by consolidating their federal loans by April 30. The U.S. Department of Education will make this one-time payment adjustment this summer to help those hurt by past loan servicing failures.

As President Joe Biden continues to iron out his student loan forgiveness plan, which was initially roadblocked by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, his administration announced last January that 73,600 borrowers saw $4.9 billion approved in loan cancellation by making fixes to income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

Borrowers can potentially qualify for loan forgiveness through IDR and PSLF if they meet the April loan consolidation deadline, which was extended from Dec. 31. However, consolidating loans does not guarantee forgiveness, and the processing period takes at least 60 days, according to the Department of Education.

How to get a one-time adjustment

Borrowers with federal loans automatically qualify for the adjustment.

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To have a chance at student debt cancellation, borrowers with the following loans must consolidate them:

Find what type of loan you have at StudentAid.gov.

• Commercially held Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL)
• Parent PLUS loans: Borrowers with Parent PLUS loans managed by the Department of Education and 25 years of repayment qualify for automatic cancellation.
• Perkins loans
• Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) Program loans