Joe Biden to extend student loan moratorium till August

The Trump administration offered Americans the option of deferring loan payments in March 2020. And now, the Biden administration is set to extend the federal student loan repayment moratorium once again. However, the pause on the payment will offer some relief to millions of COVID-affected Americans, and students will not be required to pay until August 31 2022.

Payments were set to resume on May 1, 2022, after being suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. As per an administration official with the White House's decision-making body, the pause on the loan payment will extend up to August 31, 2022.

The proposed time frame is much shorter than what Democrats had pushed for as they have been clamoring for the White House to extend the moratorium on student loans and allow borrowers some additional time to be ready to repay the loan.


As per data from the Education Department, the moratorium on student loans would help 43 million Americans who owe the federal government a total of $1.6 trillion in student debt. The interest rates are expected to remain at 0% until August 31, 2022.

As per Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash), more time is needed to assist Americans in planning for repayment and also to rethink the government's current student loan repayment scheme. She also said that it is holding people back as borrowers are struggling to cope with the rising costs and a broken student loan system. She also said that it has been more difficult for borrowers of color as they are dealing with the economic crisis and public health.

Democratic senators have pressured Biden at the White House to take executive action to cancel $50,000 of student loan debt for all debtors. They said that such a decision would help Black Americans as they have more educational debt on average.

The Trump administration provided Americans the option of deferring loan payments in March 2020, and Congress made it automatic shortly after. The Trump administration extended the moratorium twice, and the Biden administration extended it twice more.