CASPER, Wyo. — In Wyoming, 30,000 people applied or were deemed automatically eligible for the Biden/Harris administration’s one-time student debt relief program, according to a press release this morning from the U.S. Department of Education.
Of that amount, only 18,000 applications were fully approved and sent to loan servicers for discharge.
Wyoming has the least number of applicants out of all the federal states and territories, according to the release.
The Biden/Harris Administration released new data showing that 26 million people across all 50 states applied or were eligible for the relief.
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 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.
Over 16 million of those borrowers’ applications were fully approved by the department and sent to loan servicers. However, in November 2022, the department was required to stop accepting applications as a result of lawsuits brought by opponents of the program. Loan servicers were 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.
For more information, visit StudentAid.gov/debtrelief.
