Federal student loan payments are due in October for the first time since the pandemic began - Ohioans owe $63.5 billion in student loans
Last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that President Biden's student debt relief plan is unconstitutional has axed loan forgiveness for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans.
Ohio has the nation's sixth-highest number of borrowers (over 1.8 million, or about 15% of our state's population) and eighth-highest overall debt balance ($63.5 billion), per March Federal Student Aid data.
That's an average balance of about $36,000 per borrower.
Over 700,000 Ohioans were approved for forgiveness in the short time an application was available last year, the White House announced in January.
More than a third of student loan borrowers spent money they otherwise would not have when they believed a portion of their debt would be forgiven by the Biden administration, according to a new poll.
Most borrowers surveyed by Intellingent.com were confident they would receive some student debt relief as part of the Biden administration’s plan to forgive at least $10,000 for federal borrowers and up to $20,000 for those who received a federal Pell Grant while in school.
Experts say borrowers should update their contact information with their loan servicers; budget out expenses on their needs and wants based on a month’s worth of transactions; and to sign up for auto pay, which would deduct 0.25 percentage points from interest.
