Biden administration announces $1.2 billion in new student debt relief
The Biden administration announced it would forgive $1.2 billion in student loan debt for borrowers enrolled in a certain income-driven repayment plan.
Scripps News
As President Joe Biden tries to whittle down the $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt in the U.S. — another $1.2 billion was canceled Wednesday, according to a release from the Department of Education — the question arises: just how much do Florida students owe?
Here’s a look at Florida’s federal student loan debt, by the numbers, according to Federal Student Aid.
Florida’s student debt is over $100 billion
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid site, as of Sept. 30, 2023, the total federal student loan debt balance in Florida was $103.3 billion, including outstanding principal and interest balances, for 2.7 million borrowers. This includes Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and Perkins Loans but does not include private loan debt. That’s also down from the $105.4 billion it was just months previously.
That puts Florida students at the third highest amount of federal student loan debt, behind California ($146.7 billion) and Texas ($112.7 billion).
Florida had the 4th highest average federal student loan debt in the U.S. in 2023
The average federal student loan for Florida borrowers was $38,065, as of Sept. 30, 2023. That was the fourth highest in the U.S., after Washington, D.C. ($53,782), Maryland ($42,280), Georgia ($40,804), and Virginia ($39,899). The average federal student debt in the U.S. was $35,099.
According to Forbes, the average student debt in the U.S., including federal and private loans, was $28,950.
How much each Florida student owes varies quite a bit.
- 15.2% of Florida students owe less than $5,000
- 16.7% of Florida students owe from $5,000 to $10,000
- 19.8% of Florida students owe from $10,000 to $20,000
- 21% of Florida students owe from $20,000 to $40,000
- 10% of Florida students owe from $40,000 to $60,000
- 5.9% of Florida students owe from $60,000 to $80,000
- 3.1% of Florida students owe from $80,000 to $100,000
- 5.6% of Florida students owe from $100,000 to $200,000
- and 2.6% of Florida students, 71,900 of them, owe over $200,000
12% of Floridians hold federal student loan debt
More than 2.71 million Florida residents have outstanding federal student loan debts, the third most of any state after California (3.9 million) and Texas (3.8 million).
With the U.S. Census estimating the state population at 22,610,726 residents in July 2023, that means at least three out of every 25 Floridians are still paying off their college loans.
As of the 2019-2020 school year, around half of all Florida students graduated with student loan debt.
Which generation has the most student debt?
It’s not surprising that a lot of federal student loan debt is carried by younger people — $31.5 billion is due from 910,500 people aged 25 to 34 in the Sunshine State, according to Federal Student Aid — but older residents owe even more. Floridians aged 35 to 49 are on the hook for $43 billion as of the end of 2023, and even people over 62 still owe billions.
| AGE GROUP | BORROWERS | FEDERAL LOAN DEBT OUTSTANDING |
| 24 and younger | 338,800 | $4.70 billion |
| 25 to 34 | 910,500 | $31.45 billion |
| 35 to 49 | 921,200 | $42.83 billion |
| 50 to 61 | 398,000 | $17.61 billion |
| 62 and older | 152,000 | $6.69 billion |
What do I do if I can’t make my federal student loan payments?
You’ve got options.
The latest debt forgiveness applies to people who enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, originally took out less than $12,000 in undergraduate or graduate federal student loans, and have been repaying them for at least 10 years. If you have not yet enrolled but are eligible you may receive an email from the Department of Education to notify you that your federal debt could be cleared as soon as you sign up.
If your loan payments are more than you can afford you can consider switching repayment plans to one that works better for you now. Even if you don’t meet the other qualifications for debt forgiveness, it may be worth signing up for SAVE as it’s an income-based repayment plan that can save you on your monthly payments. Federal Student Aid has a Loan Simulator to let you try different plans to see if you qualify for one with a lower monthly payment.
If you have multiple loans you also might want to consolidate them, which also has the benefit of starting your repayment period over and potentially lowering your payments.
If you simply don’t have the cash, you can request a deferment or forbearance to temporarily suspend your payments. Interest will continue to accrue during that time, however, and if you’re working toward loan forgiveness this period will not count toward your requirements.
What do I do if my school tricked me, used predatory practices or violated state law?
If your school misled you or engaged in predatory practices you can apply for “borrower defense,” which can discharge some or all of your federal student loan debt. This is only available for Direct Loans and will not help you with private loans or any other loans from federal or state agencies, FFEL Program loans or Perkins loans.
If you attended any of Corinthian College’s “Everest University” schools in Florida between 1995 and 2015 you may be eligible to have your CCI loans completely discharged as the CCI was found to have misrepresented many aspects of their schools, including the likelihood of students finding jobs. You should already have been contacted by the Education Department about your CCI loan.