TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Student loan debt in Florida is among some of the highest in the country, according to a new report.
Federal student loans payments are temporarily suspended through the end of the year, providing some relief to borrowers, but Florida’s residents with student debt are generally in a worse financial situation than their peers across the country.
Florida borrowers owe average of $35,496 in federal and private student loan debt, according to LendingTree. That’s only 3% less than average borrower in the United States, putting the state with the tenth-highest average student loan debt among other.
The state has 2.6 million people borrowing a total of $98.3 billion, with an average payment of around $280 each month.
In the Tampa Bay area, Pasco borrowers have the highest average student loan debt with $37,667— higher than the national average.
As part of the upcoming relief package being discussed in Congress, $4 billion will go toward student loans, but specific details have not yet been disclosed.
Under the current CARES Act, student loan lenders are required to send multiple notifications to borrowers in the coming weeks that they’ll need to continue repayment in January.