The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced on Wednesday, April 6, that the pause on the repayment of student loans has been extended through the end of August this year. The Biden Administration's decision applies to 43 million American borrowers collectively owing $1.6 trillion in student loan debt.
"While the economy continues to improve and COVID cases continue to decline, President Biden has made clear the continuing need to respond to the pandemic and its economic consequences, as well as to allow for the responsible phase-down of pandemic relief," the ED announcement reads.
This extension will be the sixth delay to the end of the repayment moratorium that was first put in place by Congress early in 2020. The amount of student loan debt held by Americans exceeds what they owe on credit cards or cars and is only topped by the total owed on U.S. mortgages.
The Administration will also be establishing a "fresh start" policy when repayment begins again, blocking paycheck garnishments and other collection efforts for those with delinquent or defaulted loans. Borrowers default on their loans when they are late on payments by at least 270 days. There are roughly 7 million student loan borrowers in default.
"During the extension, the Department will continue to assess the financial impacts of the pandemic on student loan borrowers and to prepare to transition borrowers smoothly back into repayment," the announcement reads.
The decision comes following calls from lawmakers in the House and Senate for President Joe Biden to push the end of the moratorium from its prior date of May 1 until the end of this year. Most argued that the continued economic instability and existing problems in the government's repayment system necessitated an extension.
"It is ruining lives and holding people back," Washington's Democratic Senator Patty Murray said in a statement last month. "Borrowers are struggling with rising costs, struggling to get their feet back under them after public health and economic crises, and struggling with a broken student loan system - and all this is felt especially hard by borrowers of color."
In the statement, Murray also called on the Administration to establish a "fresh start" policy for borrowers in default, a policy that was included in the ED's announcement.
Prior to the extension, there was widespread concern that many borrowers would quickly fall behind on payments if the moratorium ended on May 1. Experts say that the end of the repayment pause will hit Black families and those already harmed by the pandemic the hardest.
"Serious delinquency rates for student debt could snap back from historic lows to their previous highs in which 10% or more of the debt was past due," the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank said in March.
There are still calls for the Administration to cancel student loan debt altogether, and the repeated extension of the moratorium has given some the impression that there's no good reason not to call off repayments.
"With each and every repayment extension, you make a stronger case for canceling it," the NAACP's national director of youth and college, Wisdom Cole, said. "At this point, just cancel it."
While President Joe Biden has expressed his support for canceling up to $10,000 in debt for all student loan borrowers, he said that such an action should be taken by Congress. Democratic Congressmen, on the other hand, say that Biden should use executive action to forgive $50,000 for all student loan borrowers.