The U.S. Department of Education just published a state-by-state list of borrowers who have received forgiveness under President Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan.
The announcement breaks down how much forgiveness each state has received and how many borrowers are enrolled in the plan in each state. So far, borrowers have received a total of $1.2 billion throughout the country.
These are the 10 states where borrowers have received the most student loan forgiveness:
"When we talk about fixing a broken student loan system, this is what we’re talking about," U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said. "The state-by-state SAVE Plan debt forgiveness numbers we’re announcing today not only show that President Biden’s leadership is making a real impact on people’s lives in every state – they demonstrate that we won’t ever stop fighting to make higher education more affordable and accessible for more Americans."
Unsurprisingly, the largest states with the most borrowers have benefited most from Biden’s SAVE Plan. California, Texas and Florida have seen the most forgiveness, followed by other densely populated states like New York.
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The Biden Administration recently announced a slight change to income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. The deadline to reenroll in the plan has been extended from March to September, at the earliest.
During COVID-19, when payments were paused, borrowers didn’t need to provide their income or family size in order to keep their IDR plans up to date, and that has also been extended to offer relief to those under the plan.
When a borrowers IDR plan expires, the process is broken down into three different timestamps. Three months before the plan expires, the servicer should reach out about recertification.
About 35 days before the plan expires, borrowers’ income information is due and 10 days before the plan expires will be the last date borrowers have to turn in their income documents. If borrowers miss this deadline, they run the risk of being taken off the plan and having their monthly payments go up.
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STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS FACING FINANCIAL HARDSHIP MAY QUALIFY FOR BIDEN’S NEW ROUND OF DEBT RELIEF
To fix the FAFSA complications that happened at the end of last year, the U.S. Department of Education is rolling out additional support to help.
"We are putting all hands on deck and using every lever we have to make sure we can achieve the transformational potential of the Better FAFSA to make higher education possible for many more of our nation’s students," U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said. "The technical updates we are making today will not impact our implementation timelines, and, combined with other implementation efforts, the Department’s Better FAFSA will result in more students eligible to access more Pell Grants in the 2024–25 award year."
The Department updated how it calculates the amount of aid students qualify for. It plans to work with both colleges and loan vendors to give $50 million in any technical support they may need.
Additionally, universities with a lower level of resources will get extra support from the office of Federal Student Aid and other nonprofit organizations. The extra personnel will offer need-assessments and other support to help quickly process student aid packages.
The Department also plans to send system-generated test student records to schools, so they can process records more efficiently.
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