Biden Administration releases state-by-state student debt details

NORTH MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - The Biden Administration released data on Tuesday detailing how many people would be affected by the new student loan debt plan.

The information was detailed in a Zoom meeting, where members of the Biden Administration explained the impact of the plan. Speakers in the meeting reviewed where people can register for loan forgiveness, as well as the impact the plan would have in their specific states, and on narrowing the country’s racial wealth gap.

In the plan, the administration plans to grant $10,000 of student loan forgiveness to all working and middle-class Americans, as well as $20,000 to students who received the need-based Pell Grant.

It’s estimated the plan will affect more than 40 million Americans, with nearly 20 million having their debt completely wiped out.

Speakers in the meeting detailed how current and former students can verify their eligibility to receive debt relief.

“I urge all of our borrowers to go to studentaid.gov/debtrelief and sign up for notifications,” said Ayanna Pressley, a Congresswoman in Massachusetts’ 7th District. “In early October, I need you to submit a simple form to affirm your eligibility, and I want you to do that as soon as possible so you can benefit from this cancellation before the end of the year.”

Another massive part of the plan is to help narrow the country’s racial wealth gap by focusing on those who need the relief most. More than 70% of Black undergraduate students who took out loans reportedly are Pell Grant recipients, as well as 65% of Latino students.

“By canceling $20,000 in student debt for our Pell recipients, we really start to get at the racial justice component of this crisis,” said Pressley. “Our Black and Brown students have to borrow at much higher rates because of policies in this country that have historically denied our families the chance to build generational wealth. So this historic action will set those borrowers on a pathway to generational wealth.”

Additionally, households in the top 5 percent of earnings will not receive any relief, while officials say nearly 90% of the relief will go to households making less than $75K per year.

In Minnesota and Iowa, over 1.1 million Americans are estimated to be eligible for debt relief, with about 665,000 of those being Pell Grant recipients.

State or Jurisdiction	Estimated Number of Borrows Eligible for Student Debt Relief (rounded to the nearest hundred)	Estimated Number of Pell Borrowers Eligible for Student Debt Relief (rounded to the nearest hundred)
Alaska	60,500	37,300
Alabama	588,000	404,900
Arkansas	365,600	269,000
American Samoa	2,000	1,500
Arizona	810,800	554,900
California	3,549,300	2,340,600
Colorado	698,100	419,000
Connecticut	454,200	238,200
Washington D.C.	105,600	60,300
Delaware	116,900	68,000
Florida	2,427,600	1,716,300
Georgia	1,506,100	1,039,100
Guam	6,900	4,500
Hawaii	111,500	65,700
Iowa	408,700	248,900
Idaho	201,400	144,900
Illinois	1,486,600	863,600
Indiana	856,400	555,500
Kansas	360,900	225,500
Kentucky	563,300	394,000
Louisiana	608,100	435,200
Massachusetts	813,000	401,200
Maryland	747,100	419,400
Maine	175,000	105,300
Michigan	1,316,000	849,300
Minnesota	729,700	416,300
Missouri	777,300	502,200
Northern Mariana Islands	1,400	1,000
Mississippi	417,200	316,400
Montana	120,400	78,600
North Carolina	1,190,500	785,500
North Dakota	82,000	49,600
Nebraska	232,100	49,600
New Hampshire	175,100	85,300
New Jersey	1,082,900	590,300
New Mexico	215,900	159,000
Nevada	315,800	216,900
New York	2,258,800	1,320,100
Ohio	1,677,800	1,085,700
Oklahoma	454,300	321,600
Oregon	499,000	332,100
Pennsylvania	1,717,300	988,800
Puerto Rico	275,500	241,900
Rhode Island	133,900	75,300
South Carolina	681,100	458,400
South Dakota	109,100	65,100
Tennessee	795,300	542,000
Texas	3,323,200	2,306,700
Utah	282,700	206,300
Virginia	965,100	566,500
Virgin Islands	7,800	4,700
Vermont	72,200	37,100
Washington	697,600	423,800
Wisconsin	685,100	412,700
West Virginia	213,100	145,000
Wyoming	49,600	31,400
Other* (Borrowers who are in outlying territories, military zones, or currently outside of the United States)	10,900	7,400