The US Education Department will not offer student debt relief for hardship

The US Education Department has withdrawn a plan to forgive student loan debt for people experiencing financial hardship. This means borrowers cannot apply for debt relief based on their personal financial struggles.

The Education Department had proposed a new way to forgive student loans, based on a borrower's individual hardship. This would have been a significant expansion of who could get relief. By withdrawing the proposal, the department is signaling that it will not use this specific authority to broadly forgive debt.