Still owe money on that student loan? You’ve got a lot riding on a Supreme Court decision that’s expected to come soon.
The high court is expected to rule on President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program in the next couple of weeks and it could be a boost — or a bust — for millions of people, depending on how the court rules.
Biden’s plan, which was suspended because of the legal challenges that are now before the court, would erase up to $10,000 in federal student debt for individuals earning less than $125,000 a year and married couples earning less than $250,000 a year. The federal student loans of income-eligible individuals who received Pell grants would be reduced by up to $20,000.
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Estimates say more than $400 billion in loans could be forgiven.
Yes, that’s billion with a “b.”
More than 40 million people nationwide were expected to be eligible, the Biden administration said. The US Census Bureau has estimated that the ambitious plan would completely wipe out the loan balances of 29 percent of those with student debt.
In January, the White House said that 26 million people (nearly 600,000 in Massachusetts) had applied in less than four weeks or were automatically eligible for relief, and more than 16 million of those applications (380,000 in Massachusetts) had been fully approved.
Legal analysts have said they expect the conservative Supreme Court to rule against the program. In oral arguments in February, justices questioned the administration’s authority to cancel the loans because of the COVID-19 emergency. Chief Justice John Roberts remarked that “most casual observers ... would think that’s something for Congress to act on.”
The following charts show what’s at stake in the ruling:
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Here is a map showing the burden of student loans across the country.
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Here is a chart showing student loan balances by age group and the staggering increase in the total in recent years.
Here is a map showing the share of the adult population that would have a loan forgiven in each state under the administration’s plan.
Here is a map estimating the average forgiveness per borrower in each state.
Here is a table showing the number of people in each state who applied or were deemed automatically eligible for loan forgiveness, and the number of those people who had their applications fully approved before the courts blocked the process.
Martin Finucane can be reached at martin.finucane@globe.com. John Hancock can be reached at john.hancock@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Hancock_JohnD.