President Biden Just Paused Your Student Loan Debt for Most of 2021

Your break on paying back your federal student loans just got a little longer. President Biden is extending the pass that began early in the pandemic.

President Biden has asked the Education Department to extend the break on making student loan payments. The current break ends on January 31st. There's well over $100,000 of student loan debt on my family's payroll. The break, since March of 2020, has helped a little, as I'm sure it has for other families. This new extension will expire on September 30, 2021.

That means you will not be required to make payments on your federal student loans, the loans will not accrue any interest and all debt collection activity would halt through September. That covers roughly 85% of all federal student loans, including those known as direct federal loans and PLUS loans that parents have taken out on behalf of their children.

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would like to see each person with a federal student loan receive $50,000 of debt forgiveness. For now, that seems to have stalled out. During his campaign, President Biden called for canceling $10,000 per borrower.

"Additionally, we should forgive a minimum of $10,000/person of federal student loans, as proposed by Senator Warren and colleagues. Young people and other student debt holders bore the brunt of the last crisis. It shouldn't happen again." (Joe Biden on Twitter March 22, 2020)

[H/T My Stateline]

Steve Shannon is host of The Steve Shannon Show on 97ZOK. On the air weekday mornings from 6 to 10 a.m. and a special 'Rewind' show, featuring favorite moments from previous shows, on Saturday mornings from 5 to 7 a.m.. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and like his page on Facebook.