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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsLocal newsMore Than 12,000 V.I. Students Qualify for President Biden’s Student Loan Relief...

More Than 12,000 V.I. Students Qualify for President Biden’s Student Loan Relief Plan

 

An estimated 7,800 USVI student loan borrowers in the territory will benefit from student loan debt relief, and 4,700 borrowers will benefit from Pell Grant debt relief, according to the Biden-Harris administration.

President Joe Biden announced in August his administration’s plan to give working and middle-class Americans more breathing room by providing up to $20,000 in debt relief to Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 to other borrowers.

The student debt relief plan will help borrowers and families continue to recover from the pandemic and prepare to resume student loan payments in January 2023, according to the administration.

The Biden-Harris administration expects more than 40 million borrowers to be eligible for its student debt relief plan, and nearly 20 million borrowers could see their remaining balance discharged. Ninety percent of relief dollars will go to those earning less than $75,000 per year, and no relief will be given to any individual or household in the top 5 percent of incomes. 

By targeting relief to borrowers with the highest economic need, the administration’s actions will also likely help narrow the racial wealth gap, it said. Nearly 71 percent of black undergraduate borrowers are Pell Grant recipients, and 65 percent of Latino undergraduate borrowers are Pell Grant recipients.

“This is very welcomed news for the former students who never had the opportunity to take advantage of the free tuition law that Lt. Governor Tregenza Roach authored in the Senate or the scholarship funds the Bryan-Roach administration has been giving to help those aspiring to a college degree afford the high costs associated with it,” Governor Albert Bryan Jr. said in a statement regarding the debt relief.

“President Biden is to be commended for his courage and determination to ensure that our students can attain the higher education they strive for,” Bryan said. “The president’s action will help our former students burdened by the high costs of college recover more quickly so they can become the backbone of the bright future that lies ahead for the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

The U.S. Department of Education will release details on how individuals across the country can benefit from the administration’s student debt relief plan.

For more information, visit StudentAid.gov/debtrelief.

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