The Department of Education on Friday announced the next steps in its efforts to provide student debt forgiveness to federal borrowers. 

After the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's plan to provide broad student loan forgiveness at the end of June, the administration got to work on a new plan to provide relief through the Higher Education Act.

Currently, the administration is going through a process known as negotiated rulemaking to enact a debt forgiveness plan. Department of Education officials provided an update to members of the press on Friday announcing members of the Student Loan Debt Relief Committee who will discuss and finalize a debt forgiveness proposal in the coming months.

It's still not clear who exactly may see their debt forgiven in the near future, but ED officials offered a glimpse at who they are focusing on first. Here's what we know.

Borrowers in need will be addressed first

Biden's original debt forgiveness plan offered up to $20,000 in debt relief for individual borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year. Administration officials told reporters they are not trying to "narrow the conversation" on who should get debt relief, but they are focusing on more targeted relief first.

ED outlined questions about five specific groups of borrowers whose needs the committee will prioritize. Those are:

1. Borrowers who owe balances larger than what they originally borrowed
2. Low-income borrowers who would be eligible for forgiveness under programs like income-driven repayment, but have not applied 
3. Borrowers who took out loans to attend programs that wound up not providing a financial value sufficient to make loan payments affordable
4. Borrowers who entered repayment before benefits were created
5. Borrowers with hardships not currently addressed by the student loan system

"Today, after considering more than 26,000 public comments on how to tailor this relief, we are releasing this additional information about this effort," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. "We're committed to standing up for borrowers and making sure that student debt does not stop anyone from climbing the economic ladder and pursuing the American dream." 

The committee will meet October 10-11 to begin discussion on the forgiveness regulation. The public will be able to comment after each day. The committee will convene again in November and December and publish draft rules, which will be open to public feedback next year. 

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