Student loans in North Carolina
Whether North Carolina taxes a forgiven student loan balance, the state student aid agency, and what it costs to attend college in North Carolina.
Will North Carolina tax a forgiven balance?
Whether North Carolina taxes a forgiven student loan balance in 2026
It depends on the state's conformity date, on whether it adopted the federal exclusion before that expired at the end of 2025, and on any carve-out in state law. The published state-by-state tables disagree with each other, and this site has not checked this state's revenue department directly.
Check your state revenue department instead.
What is settled: income-driven forgiveness is federal taxable income from 2026, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness is not taxed federally. North Carolina taxes wage income, and most states with an income tax begin from a federal figure, so it is more likely than not that a discharged balance is taxed here too. This site will not turn "more likely than not" into a yes.
State aid
North Carolina administers its student aid through College Foundation of North Carolina. Grant programmes, deadlines and residency rules come from them rather than from the federal system, and they are the right first call about anything the federal pages do not answer.
Link last requested on , which answered 200.
What it costs to attend in North Carolina
- 88Institutions on this site
- $24,868Median published cost of attendance, a year
Sources
- Court actions affecting income-driven repayment, U.S. Department of Education. Checked on . Backs that the federal exclusion covered discharges to 31 December 2025 and was not extended; that Public Service Loan Forgiveness remains federally tax-free.
- College Scorecard, most recent institution-level data, U.S. Department of Education. Figures describe 2025-26. Collected automatically on , so nobody checked this row by hand.