Illinois' SmartBuy Program Forgives Student Loans To Help Potential Homeowners Buy Real Estate

If you want to eliminate your student loans, move to Illinois. That’s what happened to James Ekstrom, who was able to purchase his first home through Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Smart Buy Program after having $37,000 of student loan debt forgiven, Fox 39 WTVO reported. 

“So all of that, the whole $37,000, got paid off,” Ekstrom said. “I actually just checked on my accounts a couple of days ago, and I saw it, and I was like, Wow, it doesn’t even feel real at the moment.”

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23% Of All Homebuyers Have Student Loan Debt

The program was designed to help homebuyers with student loans enter the housing market. According to a 2024 report from the National Association of Realtors Research Group, 23% of all homebuyers had student loan debt, with a median debt of $30,000.

“With the additional money that I don’t have to pay towards student loans anymore,” Ekstrom said, “I plan to continue reinvesting that money definitely into this property and also plan on actually creating another account to set some capital aside to eventually, in the near future, probably very soon to acquire another property, possibly.”

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Home Ownership Is Increasingly Beyond Younger Buyers

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker launched the SmartBuy program to enable access to affordable homes in the state despite buyers’ financial burdens. It achieves this by providing financial assistance and debt relief.

“Fifteen years ago the average age of a first-time home buyer was 29. Today, it’s 38,” Northwest Illinois Alliance of Realtors CEO Conor Brown said. “It’s really kind of sounding the alarm bells that the student loan debt is not sustainable. So, we need to think of ways that help alleviate some of that stress.”

Although applications to the SmartBuy program are currently closed as funding has been exhausted, a few other states offer similar programs.  These include:

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Other States That Offer Student Loan Debt Relief For Homebuyers

Kansas has more than 90 counties designated as Rural Opportunity Zones. According to the Kansas Office of Rural Prosperity, potential homebuyers in the state who move into one of those counties can receive student loan repayment assistance and/or a 100% state income tax credit. The student loan reimbursement assistance offers up to $15,000 in aid over five years. 

Maine‘s Student Loan Repayment Credit is administered by the Maine Revenue Service. The program offers a refundable tax credit of up to $2,500 annually..

Maryland offers the SmartBuy 3.0 program. It provides homebuyers with $6,000 in down payment assistance and student loan repayment assistance. The program will pay off a student loan equal to 15 percent of the home cost, with a maximum payoff of $20,000. Borrowers must also qualify for the Maryland Mortgage program.

Michigan offers up to $300,000 in tax-free student loan repayment assistance for health workers who agree to work in the Health Professional Shortage Area. To qualify for the full repayment assistance amount, participants must apply through the Michigan State Loan Repayment Program and participate in the program for at least two years.

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