The Biden administration announced they are scaling back the amount of people their student loan debt forgiveness plan will apply to on Sept. 29, over a month after first announcing the plan. 

Borrowers whose federal student loans are guaranteed by the government but held by private lenders do not fall under their requirements and are not eligible for the $20,000 or $10,000 debt relief.

Some private student loan companies include College Ave student loans, Sallie Mae and Credible. 

According to CNBC, there are still over 4 million students who use Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program loans although the program ended back in 2010. That is roughly 7% of federal student debt or $113 million according to studentaid.gov.  

CNN reported that the Department of Education said these types of loans, many of which were part of the FFEL program and the Federal Family Perkins Loan program, initially met the requirements for debt relief. However, as of Sept. 29, this has changed. 

According to studentaid.gov, borrowers from private lenders who consolidated their loans before Sept. 29 are eligible for the one-time loan forgiveness. This means for those who failed to meet the deadline, there is nothing they can do as of now for loan forgiveness. 

According to CNN, the Department of Education said they are currently “assessing alternative pathways” to provide relief for borrowers who were granted loans from the FFEL program and the Federal Family Perkins loan program. 

For the rest of student loan borrowers who are eligible, the Biden Administration plan remains the same. According to studentaid.gov, those who are eligible for the debt relief can expect the application for loan forgiveness to be online sometime in October. 

The due date for applications end on Dec. 31, the same date that the student loan payment pause ends.