Millions of student-loan borrowers didn't get the broad relief they hoped for this year. 2024 could bring some of them a narrower version.

• Student-loan borrowers did not get the broad relief they were hoping for in 2023.
• Biden's second attempt at relief could be finalized next year, but it'll be more narrow.

It's been a tumultuous year for millions of student-loan borrowers.

Following years of pressure from Democratic lawmakers and advocates, President Joe Biden answered their calls in August 2022 when he announced up to $20,000 in student-loan forgiveness for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year.

It was a long time coming, and while the amount of relief was not as expansive as some might have hoped, it brought millions of borrowers hope, with the potential to wipe out some of their balances completely.

However, just months after the relief was promised to borrowers, two conservative-backed lawsuits blocked its implementation — and the Supreme Court in June 2023 ruled that one of the cases had standing, effectively striking down Biden's first attempt at broad student-loan forgiveness.

"I had some apprehension about Biden's first plan for relief," one Gen Z borrower previously told Business Insider. "And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. It did go all the way to the Supreme Court and was deemed ineligible. So it's been a roller coaster, and it's really frustrating. It's hard to be excited anymore."

But the Education Department wanted to make clear to borrowers that the fight wasn't over. The same day as the Supreme Court's decision, the department announced a new route to get relief to borrowers using the Higher Education Act of 1965 — and 2024 is likely to be the year borrowers learn if they can take part in this narrower scale of debt cancellation.

An Education Department spokesperson recently told BI that the administration "will share more information on the next step in the process — including the issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking and our continued work to deliver relief to borrowers — soon."

Here's what we know about the relief that's on the line in 2024.

What to expect in the new year

Earlier in December, the Education Department concluded a key step in advancing student-debt relief under the Higher Education Act. The HEA requires the administration to undergo a series of negotiations with stakeholders to provide feedback on its proposed text for relief, and the last session with negotiators was held on December 12.

Negotiators did not reach consensus on all of the department's proposals, with major sticking points being a proposed $20,000 cap on relief for borrowers with balances currently greater than what they originally borrowed. Per the latest draft text, the department is considering relief for these borrowers: those with balances greater than their original amounts, those who entered repayment at least 20 years ago, those eligible for relief under targeted repayment plans but have not yet applied, and those who attended schools that left them with too much debt compared to post-grad earnings.

Given that there were still elements some of the negotiators wanted to see included in the text, including a category for borrowers with financial hardship, they requested the department add an additional session to discuss those provisions. The department has not yet commented on whether it will do so.

Either way, borrowers can expect to see the department move ahead with implementing the relief in 2024 — the draft rules for relief will be published on Federal Register, and the public will have time to comment on the proposals.

In terms of timeline, the department is not planning on formally issuing its proposed rule for debt relief until May 2024, which means that unless the education secretary opts for early implementation, the relief might not be effective until July 1, 2025.

Other types of forthcoming relief

Student-debt cancellation is not the only type of relief borrowers can look forward to in the coming year.

Beginning in August 2023, the Education Department has announced batches of borrowers who qualify for relief under the one-time account adjustment for those who have met the payment thresholds for forgiveness on income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Most recently, the department announced $5 billion in relief for 80,000 borrowers through the account adjustments. And in a recent blog post, Federal Student Aid Director Richard Cordray provided additional information on what borrowers can expect from the adjustment next year — he wrote that the department has extended the deadline to April 30 for borrowers with privately held loans to consolidate into the direct loan program to benefit from the adjustment. Previously, the deadline was the end of 2023.

Additionally, Cordray wrote that the department determines which borrowers are eligible for forgiveness "at least every two months," and while it plans to complete the adjustments by July 2024, it might take some time for borrowers to see that reflected in their accounts.

"It may take several weeks for servicers to update their systems after the adjustment," Cordray wrote. "Until the adjustment is fully implemented, most borrowers will not be able to get a count of their IDR progress toward forgiveness from their servicers."

Along with the adjustment, new reforms to the SAVE income-driven repayment plan will also go into effect next year. Those reforms include cutting undergraduate loan payments in half, allowing some borrowers the possibility of forgiveness after ten years, and automatically counting deferment and forbearance periods toward forgiveness progress.

While it's unclear how the presidential election could impact any of Biden's plans for relief, some Democratic lawmakers want him to go as big as possible on debt cancellation in the meantime.

"The Biden Administration should take every opportunity to use the authority Congress has already given it to deliver on the promises made to student loan borrowers," a group of Democrats wrote in a recent letter to the Education Department.