Tuesday is the deadline to consolidate loans for student loan forgiveness. Here's how

Marley Malenfant , Austin American-Statesman

For student loan borrowers in Texas, today is the deadline to consolidate federal student loans to qualify for a loan cancellation program from President Joe Biden’s administration.

Here’s what you need to know.

Do I qualify for loan consolidation?

Borrowers have until midnight to combine multiple student loans into one loan with a fixed interest rate requiring one payment per month. The new loan is known as a Direct Consolidation Loan.

The deadline will allow some borrowers to qualify for full debt cancellation or to receive credit toward loan forgiveness.

Those who could benefit are:

  • People who are on an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan or who were in the past

  • People in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program

  • People with Direct or Federal Family Education Loan Program loans held by the Department of Education

What student loans are eligible?

According to the U.S. Department of Education, these loans must be consolidated to be eligible for the one-time loan adjustment:

  • Parent PLUS loan

  • Perkins loan

  • Health Education Assistance Loan Program loan

  • Commercially-held Federal Family Education Loan

People who have already received forgiveness or paid off their loans are not eligible for a refund of prior payments.

The Department of Education will make a one-time adjustment to loans this summer, with all adjustments expected to be made by July 1. Around 3.6 million borrowers could see their loan balances reduced or eliminated, according to the Department of Education.

How to apply

To apply, borrowers can log in to StudentAid.gov. The Federal Student Aid Information Center can be reached at 1-800-433-3243.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Deadline to consolidate loans for student loan forgiveness is April 30

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