Biden extends pause on student loan repayment through January. Here’s what to know
President Joe Biden’s administration announced Friday that the suspension on federal student loan repayments will continue through January 2022, saying that it will be the last time the freeze will be extended.
“The payment pause has been a lifeline that allowed millions of Americans to focus on their families, health, and finances instead of student loans during the national emergency,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement, Bloomberg reported. “As our nation’s economy continues to recover from a deep hole, this final extension will give students and borrowers the time they need to plan for restart and ensure a smooth pathway back to repayment.”
The extension means that payments won’t be due again until Feb. 1, 2022 and keeps the 0% interest rate and the freeze on collecting defaulted debt, according to the Washington Post.
Congress passed a coronavirus relief package in March 2020 that first suspended student loan payments through September. The benefit was extended by former President Donald Trump’s administration through Jan. 31 of this year, and Biden extended the freeze days before it was set to expire, at the time extending the suspension through next month.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who has previously urged Biden to cancel student loan debt, praised the move.
“Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and I are glad the Biden administration heard our call to extend the pause on federal student loan payments. Tens of millions of struggling borrowers can breathe easier today,” Warren tweeted.
In July, Schumer, Pressley and Warren pushed Biden to extend the repayment freeze and cancel $50,000 in debt per borrower, The Hill reported.
“These people live with a sword hanging over their heads. And every day that goes by that sword draws a little closer,” Warren said during a news conference, according to the publication. “This is a matter of economic justice. It is a matter of racial justice. The president of the United States can remove this sword. The president can prevent this pain.”
Advocates for student loan relief have also called on Biden’s administration to continue to help out borrowers.
“While today’s announcement provides some financial security for borrowers and their families as they recover from job losses, reduced hours, or shut down businesses, the reality is that the President can do much more,” said Natalia Abrams, executive director of Student Debt Crisis in a statement. “President Biden has the legal authority to cancel student debt through executive action and we are building an unprecedented movement urging him to take such action before payments resume on January 31, 2022.”
Americans owe more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt in the second quarter of 2021, according to The Federal Reserve.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Biden extends pause on student loan repayment through January. Here’s what to know."