Student loan borrowers receive relief approval notices despite the program being held up in court

Millions of applicants for the Biden Administration's Student Loan Relief Program received notices on Saturday saying they were approved for the program, despite the distribution of funds being held up by courts.

The program hopes to offer up to $20,000 of debt relief to qualified borrowers.

About 26 million people applied for student loan relief before the recent court decision to put it on hold. 16 million applicants have so far been approved according to the Biden Administration.

The Department of Education sent out emails to borrowers who were approved and explained the challenges the administration is facing to proceed with distributing the relief.

On Friday, the Biden Administration asked the Supreme Court to allow the program to continue as the legal challenges play out. The Supreme Court asked the plaintiffs to respond to this by Wednesday, November 23.

Federal student loan payments will restart in January after being put on pause because of the pandemic.