The US Department of Education (ED) has announced that President Joe Biden will decide on student loans in the “next week or so” with the pause on loan repayments expiring at the end of August.
ED Secretary Miguel Cardona did not provide further details, but he assured student borrowers that discussions on the matter continue.
“We’ve been talking daily about this, and I can tell you the American people will hear within the next week or so from the President and the Department of Education on what we’re going to be doing around that,” Cardona told NBC’s Chuck Todd.
Student Loan Plans
The Trump administration agreed to temporarily pause student loan repayments in response to the pandemic-induced recession. The initiative was extended four times after Biden became president.
The ED also began the “Fresh Start” initiative enabling 7.5 million student loan borrowers in default to improve their credit scores by returning to repayment without a past-due balance.
If the pause is extended, CNN reported that Biden could also be considering forgiving around $10,000 in student loans for each borrower except those making more than $125,000 per year.