The agency said it would still provide debt relief to borrowers "who have applied to consolidate into the Direct Loan program prior to Sept. 29, 2022." But the department said that path is no longer available to borrowers after the new guidance.

As of Thursday, borrowers with federal student loans not held by the Education Department are no longer eligible to obtain one-time debt relief by consolidating those loans into Direct Loans, the guidance said.
[...]
The White House [downplayed the CBO report], saying it's unlikely that 90 percent of eligible borrowers will take advantage of the program. Biden's plan also faced the first second of its legal challenges this week.

A federal judge on Thursday denied a challenge to President Biden's student debt forgiveness plan filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF).

Pelosi: "We have a shortage of workers in our country. In Florida, some of the farmers and the growers are saying 'why are you shipping these immigrants up North? We need them to pick the crops down here.'" pic.twitter.com/uCXgz0AXSB

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 30, 2022

Today, six states [NE, MO, AR, IA, KS, SC] filed a challenge to the Biden Administration's student loan cancellation program in federal court in Missouri. In it, they ask the Court for an immediate temporary restraining order pausing the program. Prompt relief is being sought because the Biden Administration has indicated it will start cancelling loan balances as early as next week.

My House colleagues and I are very concerned that the deeply flawed and unfair policy of blanket student loan forgiveness will also weaken our most powerful recruiting tool at the precise moment we are experiencing a crisis in military recruiting. https://t.co/vGEfKq0PRC

— Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸 (@RepDonBacon) September 19, 2022