Oregon, Washington among states least affected by end of student loan moratorium

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon and Washington are among the states least affected by the end of the moratorium placed on student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report published by WalletHub shows.

Out of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., Oregon and Washington ranked 44th and 50th, respectively, for “states most affected by [the] student loan payments moratorium ending,” according to WalletHub. The U.S. Department of Education’s three-year pause on the $1.64 trillion in student loans owed by roughly 43.8 million Americans technically ends in October. However, interest on student loans began accruing again Sept. 1.

“The end of the student loan payments pause will hit students in some states harder than others,” WalletHub stated. “In order to determine the states most affected by the end of the student loan payments moratorium, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics. They range from the average student loan debt per borrower to the share of state residents with student debt and share of student loan borrowers eligible for forgiveness.”

Click here for a full list of issues taken into consideration for WalletHub’s rankings. See the complete rankings below: