President Joe Biden announced a significant loan forgiveness program in August 2022, one that would forgive up to $20,000 in debt relief for borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year. In the four weeks after the application process opened, millions of Americans applied or were deemed eligible for relief. Only 10 states had more applicants than New Jersey, which had 759,000 applicants. Of those, some 493,000 were fully approved and sent to loan servicers for discharge. 

After Republican-led states said Biden didn’t have the authority for such an initiative, the program was put on hold and the federal Department of Education had to stop taking applications. And because of the lawsuits, loan servicers were not able to discharge any debt. 

“These borrowers could be benefitting from the Administration’s program right now were it not for lawsuits brought by elected officials and special interests,” a statement released Friday by the Biden administration said.