New data comes as elected officials and special interests actively block many of their own constituents from getting relief

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration released new data showing the number of people in each state who applied for student debt relief or were automatically eligible for relief. These borrowers could be benefitting from the Administration’s program right now were it not for lawsuits brought by elected officials and special interests. In August, President Biden announced his Administration’s plan to provide up to $20,000 in debt relief for borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year. The Administration’s program aimed to protect borrowers most at risk of delinquency or default as a result of hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic when the payment pause ends.

In the less than four weeks that the application was available, 26 million people either applied for debt relief or had already provided sufficient information to the Department of Education (Department) to be deemed eligible for relief. Over 16 million of those borrowers’ applications were fully approved by the Department and sent to loan servicers. However, in November of last year– less than a month after the application was first released – the Department was required to stop accepting applications as a result of lawsuits brought by opponents of the program. Loan servicers were thus prevented from discharging any debt.

Overall, more than 40 million borrowers would qualify for the Biden Administration’s debt relief program. Nearly 90% of the benefits of the relief going to out-of-school borrowers would go to those earning less than $75,000 per year. Millions of those borrowers could be experiencing the benefits of that relief today – were it not for lawsuits brought on by elected officials in some of their own states. For more information, visit StudentAid.gov/debtrelief.

Below is a full breakdown of how many people applied for debt relief and whose applications were approved by the Department before the Administration was blocked from discharging debt, rounded to the nearest thousand.

StateNumber of people who
applied or were deemed
automatically eligible for relief
Number of fully-approved
applications sent to loan servicers
for discharge
Alabama373,000238,000
Alaska38,00024,000
Arizona496,000314,000
Arkansas222,000144,000
California2,315,0001,473,000
Colorado471,000295,000
Connecticut321,000208,000
Delaware81,00052,000
District of Columbia72,00046,000
Florida1,598,0001,047,000
Georgia1,012,000642,000
Hawaii74,00046,000
Idaho126,00079,000
Illinois1,044,000679,000
Indiana542,000348,000
Iowa264,000169,000
Kansas228,000143,000
Kentucky362,000241,000
Louisiana381,000242,000
Maine116,00074,000
Maryland522,000323,000
Massachusetts593,000380,000
Michigan864,000566,000
Minnesota507,000327,000
Mississippi248,000160,000
Missouri484,000305,000
Montana75,00046,000
Nebraska154,00097,000
Nevada198,000128,000
New Hampshire121,00077,000
New Jersey759,000493,000
New Mexico125,00077,000
New York1,549,000998,000
North Carolina812,000522,000
North Dakota53,00032,000
Ohio1,079,000702,000
Oklahoma270,000172,000
Oregon329,000211,000
Pennsylvania1,157,000743,000
Puerto Rico204,000145,000
Rhode Island96,00063,000
South Carolina442,000282,000
South Dakota73,00046,000
Tennessee517,000336,000
Texas2,163,0001,391,000
Utah191,000121,000
Vermont52,00033,000
Virginia685,000429,000
Washington486,000308,000
West Virginia131,00085,000
Wisconsin465,000302,000
Wyoming30,00018,000
All Other Locations*58,00033,000
State Not Identified**632,00031,000
Total26,260,00016,486,000

* Borrowers who are in outlying territories, military zones, or currently outside of the United States

** Includes individuals for whom the Department of Education did not have an address on file or from whom more information was needed at the time that the program was blocked.

###

Stay Connected

Sign Up

We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better.

Opt in to send and receive text messages from President Biden.

Scroll to Top Scroll to Top
Top