The White House indicated on Tuesday that president Joe Biden is currently deciding if his government should extend the pause on federal student loan payments or if they should even forgive student loans entirely.
Biden is expected to make a final decision by the end of August, a few months after extending the COVID-19 pandemic moratorium on federal student loan payments and interest accrual.
“He’ll make a decision, I’ll let him speak about it,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“The president understands first hand how burdensome this can be for many Americans across the country. That’s why he took the action that he did when it came to pausing repayment.”
Meanwhile, economic adviser Brian Deese hesitated to share any information about Biden‘s potential decision, stating that “the president spoke to the timeline on this issue”.
Will Biden decide to extend the student loans payment pause?
It’s still very unclear what action will be taken. As reported by The Hill, a Department of Education spokesperson said that they are still assessing the situation.
“The Department of Education will continue to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy on student loan borrowers,” the spokesperson said.
“We will communicate directly with borrowers about the end of the payment pause when a decision is made.”
When did the student loans payment pause start?
It was president Donald Trump who decided to introduce a pause on student loan payments back in March 2020, just after the COVID-19 breakout.
Biden announced the latest extension back in April, with the White House informing that they are contemplating whether to introduce loan debt forgiveness by cancelling 10,000 dollars per student. This is something that Biden promised during his campaign back in 2020.
“I’m not considering 50,000 dollars in debt reduction,” the US president said during a speech in the Roosevelt Room at the White House back in April.
“But I am in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness.”
