Biden Administration to Extend Payments Pause on Student Loans for the 8th Time

Key Points

• The Biden administration said it will extend the payment pause on federal student loans given its forgiveness plan remains blocked in the courts.
• Federal student loan bills were scheduled to resume in January in 2023 after 8 previous extensions.

The pause will be extended until 60 days after the Biden administration is allowed to implement its student loan forgiveness plan and litigation is resolved, according to a press release by the U.S. Department of Education. If it can’t proceed with its policy and the legal challenges are still unfolding by June 30, 2023, student loan payments will restart 60 days after that.

It’s the eighth time the U.S. Department of Education has extended the pandemic-era relief policy.

Federal student loan payment have been on pause since March 2020, when the pandemic first hit the U.S. 

Yet not long after President Joe Biden announced his sweeping plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of Americans, a number of conservative groups and Republican-backed states attacked the policy in the courts.

Two of these lawsuits have been successful in at least temporarily halting the relief, and the Education Department closed its loan cancellation portal this month.

More to come.