These student-loan borrowers could qualify for up to $20,000 in debt cancellation through Biden's second attempt at relief

• The Education Department released new details on its second attempt at debt relief.
• It's considering five groups of borrowers to be prioritized for relief, like those with balances greater than what they started with.
• Some borrowers could get up to $20,000 in relief, per the proposed text.

President Joe Biden's next plan for getting student-loan forgiveness to borrowers is now more defined.

On Monday, the Education Department released updated regulatory text for its proposal to cancel student debt using the Higher Education Act of 1965. After the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first attempt at broad debt relief at the end of June, the Education Department immediately started its second attempt at relief using the HEA — a law that requires a series of negotiation sessions with stakeholders to help craft the final rule.

The department has so far held two negotiation sessions in October and November, and the final two-day session will occur on December 11 and 12. During those days, negotiators will discuss the department's proposed plan for relief. The latest iteration of the text plans to prioritize these five groups of borrowers:

1. Borrowers on income-driven repayment plans who have balances that are greater than what they originally owed. The department proposes waiving up to $20,000 of that balance.

2. Other borrowers who have balances greater than what they owed upon entering repayment. The department proposes waiving up to $10,000 for those borrowers.

3. Borrowers whose loans entered repayment decades ago. The department proposes one-time relief 20 years after entering repayment for borrowers with undergraduate loans. All other borrowers who have been in repayment for 25 years would also be eligible for relief.

4. Borrowers who are eligible for relief under income-driven repayment plans or targeted programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but haven't applied.

5. Borrowers who attended schools that left them with unaffordable debt compared to post-grad earnings.

"Student loans are supposed to be a bridge to a better life, not a life sentence of endless debt," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. "This rulemaking process is about standing up for borrowers who've been failed by the country's broken student loan system and creating new regulations that will reduce the burden of student debt in this country." 

This updated text slightly differs from the department's proposals at the November negotiation session in that it does not define certain hardships that would qualify borrowers for relief. During the November session, the negotiators spent time providing definitions of hardship qualifications, but the department said in its press release that the current text will not include that category.

However, "the Department will consider ways to pursue relief for this category of borrowers and has dedicated time to address this issue during the December session," the press release said.

Following the December session, the negotiating committee will determine if it reached consensus on each individual idea the department proposed. Following consensus, the department will start working on its draft rules before publishing it for public comment next year.

While this plan for relief is more narrow than Biden's first attempt, many borrowers experiencing different forms of hardship hope they'll qualify.

"I have to pay for my wife's car, plus food, plus utilities, plus the mortgage, plus the car payment," one 63-year-old borrower previously told Business Insider. "There's just too many payments and if I don't qualify for hardship, I just don't know what I'm going to do."