Due to the COVID-19 pandemic where many current and former college students lost their income, the United States Department of Education temporarily paused repayments on student loans, collections, and interest. On April 6, 2022, the decision was made to pause repayments once again in an effort to help those who are still struggling financially from the financial fallout of a global pandemic.
Student loan repayments are paused until August 31. This pause comes amid ongoing demands to cancel student loans, an effort that has gained national attention since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. As a major part of his campaign trail, President Biden promised to cancel all student loans, and that it would be a top priority. However, the promise has largely gone unfulfilled, as many college students feel like their voices are not being heard.
Some students have continued to take to the internet to demand that student loans be canceled. A change.org petition has now received nearly 1.5 million requested signatures, a sign that many Americans believe student loans should be completely canceled. The petition claims that $1.3 trillion of federal student loans could be canceled without any balance being added on to the national debt, and without any money being taken from the U.S. Treasury. Altogether, Americans owe approximately $1.7 trillion in direct student loans, and another whopping $4.4 billion in Perkins loans. Nearly 47 million Americans have some form of student loan debt that they must repay. If a total cancellation of all student loans becomes a reality, it would be beneficial for millions of Americans.
While the pauses on student loans have helped millions of Americans, many are left still worrying about how they will make their payments when repayments resume. There may be another pause to repayments, but only time will tell.
