WC Wisconsin News

Western Technical College students eligible for student loan forgiveness should be receiving letters after the college announced earlier this month it would be using federal funds to help students slammed by the ongoing pandemic.

The college in La Cross will use funds it received from the American Rescue Plan Act, President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package enacted in March, to forgive almost $740,000 student debt held by "eligible individuals." The 913 eligible individuals include students with outstanding balances from the Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020 or Spring 2021 terms, according to an announcement issued by the college on Thursday, Aug. 12.

"COVID-19 created financial hardships for so many in our community, and it impacted how students could attend college," the college's President Roger Stanford said in the announcement. "We hope this funding allows some of these individuals a path back to their career goals."

The eligible individuals will have financial holds removed from their accounts, which will allow them to enroll in more classes.

The college's Fall 2021 term begins Tuesday, Sept. 7.

College officials hit on the idea of student debt forgiveness because the federal funds came with a requirement that some of the money go to students, Stanford said in a WXOW19 news story published the day after the announcement. Stanford also told WXOW19 that the college has direct ways for students to qualify for rent or tuition, in addition to the student debt forgiveness option.

"We had a one-time opportunity for those people that had a hardship," Stanford said. "If you think about what hit us all in March of 2020, that hardship for some was really different from what all of us may have experienced. It was a major impact and we had a one-time chance to roll that back and go to zero for them and we took advantage of it."