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Biden Administration student debt relief plan to reach nearly 175,000 South Dakotans

The Biden-Harris Administration says their student debit relief plan would benefit people in all fifty states.

State-by-state data shared by the Biden Administration shows more than 109,000 South Dakotans are eligible for 10,000 dollars of student debt relief. With an additional 65,000 Pell Grant recipients eligible for up to 20,000 thousand dollars.

In a regional press call, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren explains who benefits most from the proposal.

“Ninety percent of those who benefit from the President's student debt relief plan are people earning less than seventy-five-thousand dollars a year," Warren said. "Not one penny of help goes to someone making more than one-hundred-twenty-five-thousand dollars a year.

James Kvaal is the undersecretary at the U-S Department of Education and said relief will make it everywhere in the country.

“The analysis we are releasing today tells us that President Biden’s debt relief plan will touch working families in every corner of the country," Kvaal said. "In big cities, sprawling suburbs, tribal land, and remote rural towns. Nearly twenty million borrowers will have their entire balances discharged. Others will benefit from lower balances and lower payments.”

Kvaal said some borrowers will also have opportunities to apply for public service loan forgiveness or PSLF.

“Teachers, nurses, government employees, and other public servants who were denied public service loan forgiveness, our waver period for streamlining access to PSLF ends October 31st, and public servants with debt should act now to apply,” Kvaal said.

The Department of Education plans to release additional details about the student debt relief plan in the coming weeks.

C.J. Keene is a Rapid City-based journalist covering the legal system, education, and culture