Millions of extra graduates now eligible for student-loan relief

Roughly five million more college graduates are eligible for student-loan relief under an Obama administration program as of Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The program, called Pay As You Earn, allows students to alter their monthly payments so that they are capped at just 10% of discretionary income. (This is set by a formula that takes a graduate’s total income, adjusts it, then subtracts 150% of the federal poverty level.) After 20 or 25 years of repayment, the remaining debt is forgiven.

The new rules were proposed over the summer and officially became law on Tuesday. You can find out more information and apply here.

Student loans are a huge issue for young Americans, many of whom leave school with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of debt only to find their earnings don’t allow them to make payments. This problem was exacerbated after the financial crisis and Great Recession because the job market contracted and hasn’t really recovered.

I oversee Fusion’s money section and have spent most of my time as a journalist writing about banks and finance. I live in Brooklyn with my partner Geoffrey & our two dogs, Captain & Tallulah. Favs: leopard print, Diet Coke, gummy candy, Ireland.