Entertainment
Education department forgives student loans for 21,200 borrowers: New changes explained
The Education Department had announced loan forgiveness for more than 21,200 borrowers.
According to new court filings, the loan forgiveness comes under income-driven repayment plans.
However, this relief is short-lived as sweeping changes to the student loan system take effect.
March discharges will consist of 800 PAYE borrowers, 9,900 ICR borrowers, and 10,500 IBR borrowers. All income-driven discharges except those under the SAVE plan are being processed. The SAVE program will be discontinued as soon as possible.
But borrowers who get forgiveness in 2026 have to face new changes.
Student loan discharge is now taxable again. As the American Rescue Plan Act’s tax exemption expired on December 31, 2025, Congress declined to extend it.
This means no matter whether the portion of the loan is forgiven or cancelled, the IRS still treats that forgiven amount as taxable income.
Authorities decide to exempt those who met their repayment milestone before January 1, 2026.
As per new changes, the SAVE plan is ending, and borrowers who were enrolled in it have a deadline till July to switch to another plan.
Those who will fail to switch will automatically be placed into a Standard plan.
From July onwards, the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) will come into effect, allowing for lower payments each month, as well as interest subsidies. However, the borrower has to make payments for at least 30 years before getting any forgiveness, which is more than double the 20 or 25 years currently required by the existing programs.
Students who have taken out a loan from July onwards are no longer eligible for PAYE, ICR, and IBR programs. Instead, their only choice would be RAP.
The scenario is not very different for the estimated 2 million students who are about to graduate this spring. The grace period remains the same at six months.
Entertainment
Eddie Murphy announces the latest addition to family: ‘Blessings’
Eddie Murphy is having quite the year for new arrivals.
The comedy legend has revealed he has welcomed not one but two grandchildren in the space of a fortnight, a grandson and a granddaughter, and he could not be happier about it.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the American Film Institute Achievement Award Ceremony on Saturday, 18 April, Murphy, 65, shared the news with characteristic warmth.
“I just had my first grandson two months ago,” he said, referring to the baby boy born to his daughter Bria, 36, and her husband Michael Xavier, who married in July 2022.
Bria had offered a glimpse of her pregnancy at the November premiere of her father’s documentary Being Eddie.
He also confirmed the birth of his third granddaughter, just two weeks ago, to his son Eric and Jasmin Lawrence, daughter of comedian Martin Lawrence.
The couple married last May and announced they were expecting in February. Murphy revealed the baby girl’s name to E! News: Ari Skye.
“So all this stuff is happening,” Murphy said, grinning. “I’m like it’s raining blessings on me. Raining blessings.”
When asked whether he had been dispensing parenting wisdom to the new arrivals, Murphy was direct.
“Oh, you don’t give advice like that. You know, your kids don’t go by your advice. Your kids go by the example you set. They watch you. The stuff you be saying, they don’t even pay that s— no mind. They watch and see what you do. So, I don’t give a lot of advice.”
Murphy is father to ten children across several relationships, including sons Eric, 36, Christian, 35, Myles, 33, and Max, 7, and daughters Bria, Shayne, 31, Zola, 26, Bella, 24, Angel, 19, and Izzy, 9.
Entertainment
Singer D4vd charged with murder in death of 14-year-old found in his car
Entertainment
Christina Applegate exhibits strength amid ‘health issues’
Christina Applegate has broken her silence following reports of a recent hospitalisation, reassuring fans that she is on the mend and determined as ever.
“Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” the actress wrote on Instagram on Monday.
“Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day. I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough.”
The post comes after reports began circulating that Applegate had been hospitalised in late March, with outlets reporting that those close to her had been deeply concerned.
The 54-year-old did not specify the nature of the latest health episode, but her MS diagnosis, which she made public in August 2021, has been an ongoing part of her life in the years since.
Applegate has been notably open about her journey with multiple sclerosis, both through her 2026 memoir You with the Sad Eyes and the podcast she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS.
Her final acting role was in the comedic thriller series Dead to Me, a job she finished while her diagnosis was still new territory.
Season three was already in production when she found out, and she has spoken candidly about how difficult that period was.
She used a wheelchair to get to set, was “sleeping all the time,” and had to call the cast and crew to tell them what she was dealing with.
“I had to call everybody and be like, ‘I have multiple sclerosis guys. Like, what the fuck!'” she told Variety in 2022.
Best known for her long-running role in Married… with Children, which ran on Fox for 11 seasons from 1987 to 1997, Applegate has since retired from acting.
Her message on Monday was short but carried the same directness that has defined how she has handled her illness throughout, no sugarcoating, and no backing down either.
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