Headline Roundup • August 6th, 2021
Biden Administration Extends Student Loan Payment Pause to Jan. 2022
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Biden administration will extend a pause on federal student loan payments “one final time” to Jan. 31, 2022, the Department of Education announced Friday. The pause began in March 2020 with the CARES Act, was extended to Jan. 2021 by former President Donald Trump, and was extended to the end of Sept. 2021 by President Joe Biden. “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,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
Headlines varied across the spectrum on calling the pause a “pause” or a “freeze.” Some outlets across the spectrum included quotes from Republicans opposed to the extension, and those that did tended to include a quote from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who said that “our children will pay the ultimate price for this irresponsible delay.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
The Hill
The Biden administration is extending the pause on federal student loan payments due to the coronavirus pandemic through Jan. 31, which the administration described as the final extension.
Student loan payments have been paused since Congress passed the CARES Act last year but were due to resume in September. During the pause, borrowers do not need to make payments and interest will not accrue on their remaining balance.
The Education Department described it as a “final extension of the pause” in the official announcement Friday afternoon. The administration said that the additional...
New York Times (News)
The Education Department announced Friday that it would continue a moratorium on federal student loan payments through Jan. 31, 2022, extending emergency relief for millions of borrowers that had been set to expire next month.
The department said that this would be the “final extension” of the pause, which the Trump administration instituted in March 2020 at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, and that the additional time would allow the agency to transition borrowers back into repayment and reduce the risk of default and delinquency. More than 40 million borrowers have...
National Review (News)
The Biden administration on Friday announced that it will extend the pause on federal student-loan repayment, interest, and collections until January 31, 2022.
The freeze had been set to expire at the end of September.
“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 said in a statement. “As our nation’s economy continues to recover from a deep hole, this final extension will give students and borrowers...
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