Maryland, Georgia, Delaware and Virginia have highest student loan debt in U.S.

Student loan borrowers in Virginia have the fourth highest student loan debt in the United States, after Maryland, Georgia and Delaware.

The highest debt is in Maryland where 864,700 borrowers owe an average of $42,543 each. In 2017, legislation was approved called the Maryland Student Loan Debt Relief Tax Credit to provide tax credits to certain individuals who have acquired student loan debt and are making timely payments.

The second highest, Georgia, is where 1,641,600 borrowers owe an average of $41,826. In Delaware, the third highest debt is owed by 137,300 borrowers at an average of $39,238 each.

Virginia’s 1,143,200 borrowers owe an average of $39,001.

New York, Florida, Oregon, Illinois, California and Alabama complete the top 10 states with the highest student loan debt.

Borrowers in all 50 states await a decision from the Supreme Court, hopefully by July 1, 2023, on whether President Joe Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan is legal.

Held up in court since fall 2022, Biden’s plan proposed to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for borrowers who received Pell grants and make under $125,000 per year. Before two lawsuits entered the court, 16 million borrowers were approved for forgiveness.

The lowest student loan debt per borrower is $28,218 in South Dakota, according to research conducted by banking experts CreditDonkey. With the most recent student debt data from the Federal Reserve Bank, Credit Donkey compared all 50 states to determine which states had the highest proportion of student debt per borrower. Approximately 12.9 percent of South Dakota’s residents hold federal student loan debt.

The second lowest student loan debt is in Iowa, followed by Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming.

“It’s no secret that the cost of a college education has soared over recent decades, with the average price of tuition, fees and room and board increasing by 169 percent for an undergraduate degree between 1980 and 2020,” a spokesperson for CreditDonkey said.

“These findings provide an intriguing insight into where student loan debt is most prominent throughout the country, and where in the country could benefit the most from President Biden’s proposed student loan forgiveness plan. At an estimated cost of about $400 billion, Biden’s plan to forgive student debt is one of the most expensive executive actions in history. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision before the end of June, providing much-anticipated clarity for millions of eager student loan borrowers.”