Federal student loan repayment pause could be extended again

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona indicated that the moratorium on student loan repayment that’s been in place since March 2020 could be extended beyond its current end date of Aug. 31.

At a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing June 7, Cardona said the administration “has a day” when the moratorium is set to be lifted, likely referring to the sunset date of Aug. 31, and that “it could be extended or it could be that it starts there.” Either way, he said, the Department of Education will give borrowers “ample notice” before they will have to resume making payments on their federal student loans.

Between Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the moratorium has been extended six times, according to Forbes.

Though one of Biden’s campaign promises was to cancel a minimum of $10,000 of student debt per person, experts are doubting whether that will actually happen. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, the top Republican on the House Committee on Education and Labor, sent a letter to Cardona saying she didn’t believe the Education Department was prepared for wide-scale student loan forgiveness.