The Biden administration has just given loan borrows another half-year reprieve.
In a Friday (Aug. 6) press release, it was announced that President Joe Biden would be extending the student loan payment pause until Jan. 31.
“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,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says.
“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,” Cardona continues. “It is the Department’s priority to support students and borrowers during this transition and ensure they have the resources they need to access affordable, high quality higher education.”
The pause on loan payments was instituted amid the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, even before Biden was elected. For his 2020 campaign, Biden spoke on the issues with student debt while explaining his own intentions to help deal with them.
“You get all these degrees, you end up with all this debt, and you’re in a position where you can’t get a job because no one is hiring or they’re hiring at very low wages, and so what we have to do is make sure you get the opportunity,” he explained. “That’s why I’m going to eliminate a lot of your student debt…if you come from a family less than $125,000, and you went to a public university.”
“I’m going to make sure that everybody in this generation gets $10,000 knocked off of their student debt as we try to get out of this god-awful pandemic…,” he said at the time. “We’re gonna make sure we recognize you, we advance you…You’re the best educated, you’re the most open, you’re the least prejudiced generation in American history. The future is yours, and I’m counting on it.”
Thus far, Biden has canceled nearly $3 billion in student debut.