The holidays aren’t cheap, and neither is a college degree. And for the first time since the pandemic, more than 1 million Georgians might need to factor in the cost of student loan payments into their budgets as they prepare to celebrate.
Loan payments, paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, kicked back in this October, creating a new monthly expense for more than 15% of Georgians. Georgia ranks No. 3 in the nation for student loan debt after the District of Columbia and Maryland, with the average borrower more than $41,000 in the red for their diploma, according to the Education Data Initiative.