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Wisconsin residents with student loan debt could see them wiped out in 2023

This follows the Biden administration's announcement Friday that student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers, totaling $39 billion worth of debt, will be wiped out.
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MILWAUKEE — If you've been paying your federal student loans for more than 20 years, you could see them wiped out this summer as thousands of borrowers in Wisconsin have been approved for loan forgiveness, according to the US Department of Education.

This follows the Biden administration's announcement Friday that student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers, totaling $39 billion worth of debt, will be wiped out.

The forgiveness takes place after a borrower makes 20 to 25 years of payments - which are based on their income and family size.

Of the more than 800,000 eligible borrowers, 12,220 of them are here in Wisconsin. That comes out to more than $500 million in federal student loans being forgiven in the badger state.

According to a statement from the Biden administration:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) today released state-by-state data on the number of borrowers who are eligible for automatic loan relief under fixes to Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans implemented by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure all borrowers have an accurate count of the number of monthly payments that qualify toward forgiveness. On Friday, the Department started notifying 804,000 borrowers who have a total of $39 billion in Federal student loans that will be automatically discharged in the coming weeks. Today’s data show how many borrowers and the total amount that is eligible for relief in each state and territory as a result of this action. Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, the Department has approved more than $116 billion in student loan forgiveness for more than 3.4 million borrowers.

The discharges announced on Friday are part of the Department’s commitment to address historical failures in the administration of the Federal student loan program in which qualifying payments made under IDR plans that should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accurately accounted for. Borrowers are eligible for forgiveness if they have accumulated the equivalent of either 20 or 25 years of qualifying months depending on their loan type and IDR plan. Friday’s action is a result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s implementation of the payment count adjustment announced in April 2022.


View the debt plan by state below:

Borrowers Approved for IDR Discharge under the Account Adjustment by Location
State
Borrower Count
Debt Eligible for Discharge (in millions)
Alabama
12,720
$553.90
Alaska
970
$51.40
Arizona
20,530
$1,030.40
Arkansas
6,940
$342.60
California
61,890
$2,958.80
Colorado
15,010
$805.40
Connecticut
7,230
$309.90
Delaware
2,430
$113.10
District of Columbia
2,230
$130.20
Florida
56,930
$3,036.80
Georgia
38,590
$2,130.40
Hawaii
1,690
$90.20
Idaho
5,720
$252.90
Illinois
28,450
$1,316.00
Indiana
19,470
$932.80
Iowa
10,730
$465.10
Kansas
8,410
$424.50
Kentucky
11,180
$447.70
Louisiana
15,190
$824.70
Maine
4,790
$212.50
Maryland
16,750
$918.30
Massachusetts
12,530
$592.00
Michigan
26,980
$1,267.30
Minnesota
13,610
$645.20
Mississippi
9,480
$450.90
Missouri
18,800
$956.80
Montana
3,700
$185.20
Nebraska
5,700
$268.90
Nevada
6,820
$330.00
New Hampshire
3,090
$143.80
New Jersey
17,290
$788.00
New Mexico
5,410
$260.30
New York
42,070
$1,924.10
North Carolina
24,870
$1,135.10
North Dakota
2,110
$100.60
Ohio
37,070
$1,736.90
Oklahoma
11,530
$548.40
Oregon
11,780
$572.80
Pennsylvania
29,840
$1,343.50
Rhode Island
2,580
$109.70
South Carolina
16,330
$855.20
South Dakota
3,030
$147.40
Tennessee
16,970
$867.90
Texas
63,730
$3,091.80
Utah
3,940
$212.00
Vermont
1,930
$95.80
Virginia
21,560
$1,042.50
Washington
16,310
$777.10
West Virginia
4,950
$196.20
Wisconsin
12,220
$576.10
Wyoming
1,230
$61.50
All Other Locations
8,710
$350.30
TOTAL
803,990
$38,980.90


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