381,000 Louisianians approved for Biden’s student debt forgiveness

By Piper Hutchinson
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Out of more than 600,000 Louisianians identified as qualified for Biden’s student loan forgiveness, 381,000 applied and were approved before a federal court case forced the administration to take the application down.

“These borrowers could be benefitting from the Administration’s program right now were it not for lawsuits brought by elected officials and special interests,” a White House press release said.

Of those Louisiana applications approved, 242,000 were sent to loan servicers to discharge the debt.

To be eligible for debt forgiveness, borrowers need to earn less than $125,000 per year, or $250,000 for a couple. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in Louisiana is about $50,000.

According to a fact sheet the Biden administration, released 26 million borrowers were approved for forgiveness nationwide in the four weeks the application was live last fall. Nearly 90 percent of approved borrowers who have left school earn less than $75,000.

This article originally published in the January 30, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.