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Student Debt Relief Plan: Who Is Eligible For Student Loan Forgiveness In Every State
Updated On September 27, 2022
Editorial Note: This content is based solely on the author's opinions and is not provided, approved, endorsed or reviewed by any financial institution or partner.
President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan will enact wide-scale student loan forgiveness for 40 million student loan borrowers. If you have federal student loans, you may wonder whether you can qualify for this historic student loan relief.
Last month, Biden announced major student loan forgiveness for federal student loan borrowers. The president also extended the student loan moratorium through December 31. This will be the final extension of the student loan payment pause, which means federal student loan payments will restart on January 1.
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In this guide on Biden’s student debt relief plan, you will learn everything you need to know, including:
- Who is eligible for student loan forgiveness?
- Student debt relief plan: State-by-state eligibility
- How to apply for student loan forgiveness
- Student loan cancellation: key dates to apply
Who is eligible for student loan forgiveness?
If you want to know who is eligible for student loan forgiveness under Biden’s historic plan, here are the details:
- You must have federal student loans;
- Your federal student loans must be owned by the U.S. Department of Education;
- You must earn up to $125,000 of annual income (or up to $250,000 of family income)
If you meet these requirements, then you are eligible to receive up to $10,000 of federal student loan forgiveness. What types of federal student loans qualify for student loan forgiveness? The eligible student loans include Direct Loans, Parent PLUS Loans and Grad PLUS Loans, for example. Direct Loans include subsidized and unsubsidized student loans. However, the federal government doesn’t own many FFELP Loans and Perkins Loans. In addition, private student loans aren’t eligible for federal student loan forgiveness.
If you had a Pell Grant in college, you can qualify for up to $20,000 of student loan forgiveness. Most Pell Grant recipients have family income below $60,000 per year.
Student debt relief plan: State-by-state eligibility
The White House released a state-by-state eligibility for student loan forgiveness, which shows how many student loan borrowers in each state qualify for Biden’s student debt relief plan.
Here are the details in each state for how many student loan student loan borrowers are eligible for both $10,000 of student loan forgiveness and $20,000 of student loan forgiveness:
Student Loan Forgiveness Eligibility
| State | Student Loan Borrowers Eligible For Student Loan Forgiveness | Pell Borrowers Eligible Student Loan Relief |
|---|---|---|
| AK | 60,500 | 37,300 |
| AL | 588,000 | 404,900 |
| AR | 365,600 | 269,000 |
| AS | 2,000 | 1,500 |
| AZ | 810,800 | 554,900 |
| CA | 3,549,300 | 2,340,600 |
| CO | 698,100 | 419,000 |
| CT | 454,200 | 238,200 |
| DC | 105,600 | 60,300 |
| DE | 116,900 | 68,000 |
| DE | 116,900 | 68,000 |
| GA | 1,506,100 | 1,039,100 |
| FL | 2,427,600 | 1,716,300 |
| GU | 6,900 | 4,500 |
| HI | 111,500 | 65,700 |
| IA | 408,700 | 248,900 |
| ID | 201,400 | 144,900 |
| IL | 1,486,600 | 863,600 |
| IN | 856,400 | 555,500 |
| KS | 360,900 | 225,500 |
| KY | 563,300 | 394,000 |
| LA | 608,100 | 435,200 |
| MA | 813,000 | 401,200 |
| MD | 747,100 | 419,400 |
| ME | 175,000 | 105,300 |
| MI | 1,316,000 | 849,300 |
| MN | 729,700 | 416,300 |
| MO | 777,300 | 502,200 |
| MP | 1,400 | 1,000 |
| MS | 417,200 | 316,400 |
| MT | 120,400 | 78,600 |
| NC | 1,190,500 | 785,500 |
| ND | 82,000 | 49,600 |
| NE | 232,100 | 136,000 |
| NH | 175,100 | 85,300 |
| NJ | 1,082,900 | 590,300 |
| NJ | 1,082,900 | 590,300 |
| NM | 215,900 | 159,000 |
| NV | 315,800 | 216,900 |
| NY | 2,258,800 | 1,320,100 |
| OH | 1,677,800 | 1,085,700 |
| OK | 454,300 | 321,600 |
| OR | 499,000 | 332,100 |
| PA | 1,717,300 | 988,800 |
| PR | 275,500 | 241,900 |
| RI | 133,900 | 75,300 |
| SC | 681,100 | 458,400 |
| SD | 109,100 | 65,100 |
| TN | 795,300 | 542,000 |
| TX | 3,323,200 | 2,306,700 |
| UT | 282,700 | 206,300 |
| VA | 965,100 | 566,500 |
| VI | 7,800 | 4,700 |
| VT | 72,200 | 37,100 |
| WA | 697,600 | 423,800 |
| WI | 685,100 | 412,700 |
| WV | 213,100 | 145,000 |
| WY | 49,600 | 31,400 |
| Other* | 10,900 | 7,400 |
Here are the Top 5 states where student loan borrowers are eligible to receive student debt forgiveness:
- California: 3.5 million student loan borrowers
- Texas: 3.3 million student loan borrowers
- Florida: 2.4 million student loan borrowers
- New York: 2.3 million student loan borrowers
- Pennsylvania: 1.7 million student loan borrowers
Some additional key highlights include:
- Student debt relief will benefit student loan borrowers in all 50 states
- Nearly 90% of student debt relief will benefit student loan borrowers who earn less than $75,000 per year
- Nearly 71% of Black undergraduate borrowers are Pell Grant recipients
- 65% of Latino undergraduate borrowers are Pell Grant recipients
- No student debt relief will go to any individual or household in the Top 5% income bracket
How to apply for student loan forgiveness
It’s important to learn how to apply for student loan forgiveness. The process to apply for student debt relief is simple, if you know what steps to complete.
- First, review your student loans to ensure you have federal student loans.
- Second, contact your student loan servicer or login to Federal Student Aid with your FSA ID to verify that you have eligible federal student loans. (You can check here to learn who’s your student loan servicer).
- Third, in October, the U.S. Department of Education will release an online application to apply for student loan forgiveness.
- Fourth, apply for student loan forgiveness with the U.S. Department of Education.
Importantly, if you have any federal student loan payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, you can get a refund on your student loan payments.
Student loan cancellation: key dates to apply
When it comes to student loan cancellation, here are the key dates to apply for student loan forgiveness.
- October 2022: In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Education will make the application for wide-scale student loan forgiveness available to student loan borrowers.
- November 15, 2022: You should apply for student loan forgiveness as soon as possible. Why? Federal student loan payments will restart on January 1, 2023. The Education Department estimates it will take six weeks to process student debt relief. Therefore, November 15 is approximately six weeks before student loan payments are due. It’s helpful if you have your student loan forgiveness before your payments restart.
- December 31, 2023: If you need more time to apply for student loan forgiveness, the good news is you have some time to get student debt relief. For example, eligible student loan borrowers can apply for student loan forgiveness until December 31, 2023.
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