ATLANTA — As part of the negotiations to avoid a federal debt default, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy compromised on what would allow the two parties to move forward.
While Democrats were able to fit expanded veterans benefits and help for the homeless and youths aging out of foster care, Republicans got student loan repayments set to be collected again at the end of August.
Separately, the plan from the Biden to forgive as much as $10,000 to $20,000 from individual borrowers based on their income and loan types remains on hold, pending a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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With that in mind, how much will Georgia’s student borrowers owe when payments resume?
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s most recent student loan data, the U.S. overall owes a collective $1.64 trillion in student debt as of the end of March 2023.
For Georgians, and other more individual state debt levels for education, the data is slightly older, current as of Dec. 31, 2022.
The data showing state-by-state student loan debt in the federal loan portfolio, which includes both the principal amounts and interest balances, reported Georgia’s overall student debt at $70.7 billion.
Based on the reported amount of federal student loan debt, Georgia has the fifth highest amount among the states, preceded in order by California, Texas, Florida, and the state of New York.
Across the U.S., Georgia’s debt is equal to about 4.3% of all student loans in the country.
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That debt is split between nine categories of borrower, based on how much the individuals owe.
The Peach State had a total of roughly 1.7 million borrowers as of December.
In terms of how much individuals owe, the debt level averages around $41,789, though the amounts vary for each person.
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Broken down by debt owed, the largest proportion of Georgians with student debt are categorized as owing between $20,000 to $40,000, while the smallest group of Georgians with student debt owe less than $5,000.
As of Dec. 31, here are the amounts of debt owed by Georgia borrowers, split roughly by the number of people in each bracket:
- 239,400 owe a collective $660,000,000 for less than $5,000 each
- 248,000 owe a collective $1,820,000,000 for amounts between $5,000 and $10,000
- 310,300 owe a collective $4,510,000,000 for amounts between $10,000 and $20,000
- 356,200 owe a collective $10,240,000,000 for amounts between $20,000 and $40,000
- 123,200 owe a collective $8,490,000,000 for amounts between $60,000 and $80,000
- 66,800 owe a collective $5,950,000,000 for amounts between $80,000 and $100,000
- 120,300 owe a collective $16,730,000,000 for amounts between $100,000 and $200,000
- 46,600 owe a collective $13,370,000,000 for amounts of $200,000 or more
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