Louisianans who had their student loans forgiven by the federal government can expect a massive tax bill starting next year, thanks to the U.S. Congress. That’s because lawmakers last year refused to extend a federal law that prevents loan forgiveness from being treated as taxable income. While the change affects borrowers in every state, it will hit Louisianans harder than most because of the state’s high rates of poverty and large amounts of student loan debt. The Illuminator’s Piper Hutchinson reports on new research from Protect Borrowers:
Roughly 2 million to 3 million borrowers who will have their debt cancelled in the next decade can expect a “tax bomb,” according to the analysis. The additional taxes impact federal student loan borrowers who are on an income-driven repayment plan, which bases monthly payments on their take-home pay and the size of their families. For Louisiana, the average student loan borrower can expect an additional tax cost of $7,668 from cancelled debt for tax year 2026. That’s roughly $300 more than the rate in Mississippi and nearly $800 than Arkansas.
HBCUs want what’s owed
Louisiana systematically shortchanged its Historically Black land grant universities by more than $1 billion over several decades, awarding them less funding than majority-white institutions. The Biden administration brought the issue to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ attention in 2023, but nothing has been done since then. Now a group of former students of historically Black Lincoln University in Missouri is citing a 19th century federal law in a suit that demands $549 million in funding they claim was illegally withheld. The New York Times reports on a case that could reverberate across the country:
The dispute stems from laws dating to the 1800s that first created land-grant universities, which benefited from significant federal support. But states routinely failed to meet their legal obligations to provide equitable funding for schools intended for Black students, which limited the ability of the H.B.C.U.s to receive matching federal dollars. In 2023, the Biden administration said that 16 states, including Missouri, had collectively shortchanged their H.B.C.U.s by more than $12 billion. Delaware and Ohio were the only states meeting their legal obligations, administration officials said.
America’s healthcare economy
Job growth in America has been fairly flat over the past year as the Trump administration shrinks the labor market through its immigration crackdown. One big exception: The healthcare workforce. As KFF reports, the sector added 372,000 jobs from September 2025 to last month, as hospitals, home care providers, physicians offices and outpatient centers continued to hire.
Over the last decade, several factors may be contributing to the trend of healthcare employment outpacing the rest of the economy. These include increasing demand for healthcare services as the U.S. population ages and the number of individuals living with chronic conditions increases, the relatively high pay for many healthcare professions, and the hands-on nature of many healthcare jobs, which may make them less susceptible to outsourcing or automation.
A cruel immigration crackdown
President Trump’s deportation drive has ensnared countless numbers of people who are leading peaceful, productive lives and are eager to contribute to America’s success. They include Vilma Palacios, who left Honduras at age 6 and had just received a nursing degree from LSU when she was detained while trying to get a vehicle inspection sticker. A Times-Picayune |Baton Rouge Advocate editorial picks up the story:
(Reporter Haley) Miller recently caught up with Palacios, and she revealed that her dreams hadn’t died. They just changed location. Her network here led her to an employment agency seeking to bring healthcare workers to Canada. She received a job offer in Vancouver and made the move in July to start her new life. That’s right. As the state faces a nursing shortage, a young nurse who was trained in Louisiana and had a job offer in Louisiana and wanted to remain in Louisiana wasn’t allowed to do so. Our loss is Canada’s gain. And that should make us all think again about what our government is doing.
Number of the Day
$7,668 – Additional taxes that an average student borrower in Louisiana can expect to pay because Congress required forgiven loan debt to be treated as income (Source: Protect Borrowers via The Louisiana Illuminator)