(CNN)With less than three weeks left until the federal student loan moratorium expires, millions of borrowers But President Joe Biden could extend the current moratorium or forgive the debt.
Borrower balances have been effectively frozen for more than two years since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced many Americans into lockdowns, leaving most federal student loan payments there is no need. During this time, interest has stopped accumulating and collection of defaulted receivables is pending.
Now, with the borrower's fortunes at stake, the President is set to spend a few days on a long-awaited vacation. And the Biden administration hasn't sent a signal to suggest announcing a student loan decision while he's away.
Biden has already extended his suspension four times. , has repeatedly argued that borrowers need to be able to get back on their feet. The economy grew stronger in April, when it last extended a moratorium on payments, but said the country was "still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic turmoil it caused."
"We have not yet made a decision. If a decision is made, the Department of Education will contact borrowers directly about ending the suspension of payments," the White House said. spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said. she told reporters on Tuesday. “In terms of cancellations, the President directly understands the strain student loans place on families, and therefore will continue to evaluate cancellation options.”
He stressed that he would make some kind of announcement by the 31st.
STUDENT LOANS With only three weeks left before his servicers are scheduled to resume paying federal student loans, Biden and his team are closing it out. Typically, loan servicers send out bills at least 21 days before payment is due, but Biden hasn't made up his mind yet, so the bill hasn't been sent yet.
"There has been no change in guidance from the Department of Education for weeks. Servicers have been told to refrain from any communication regarding resuming payments." Student Loan Servicing Alliance Loan Service Alliance) is a non-profit organization responsible for servicing over 95% of all federal student loans.
Biden didn't announce his decision on student loans, which was announced before he left Washington for the beach in South Carolina on Wednesday, but the headwinds of weeks of success and turmoil in the White House have pushed him to the sidelines.
American attitudes toward student debt relief are divided broadly by partisanship and by generation.
How many of the 43 million federal student loan borrowers, many of whom are 43 million federal student loan borrowers, qualify for student loan forgiveness, beyond payment suspensions and government action to broadly cancel student loan debt. There are several For example, targeted debt forgiveness programs already exist to help public sector workers and borrowers who have been duped into for-profit universities.