Three Democratic lawmakers received data showing how hard millions of student loan borrowers will be hit if President Joe Biden extends the pause on student-loan payments.
The analysis was published by The Roosevelt Institute at the request of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley. It found that 18 million borrowers will have their student loan payments cut off on February 1st. The money was used to pay off other forms of debt and to afford basic necessities.
The lawmakers wrote a letter to Biden on Wednesday, urging him to extend the pause on student loan payments and interest.
The analysis took out 7.7 million borrowers who were behind on their payments and looked at the 60 percent of borrowers who were affected by the payment pause. 18 million people paid an average of $393 per month toward their loans before the pause.
The student-loan relief measures have been extended by Biden. Schumer urged Biden to extend the pause past February 1 because of the uncertainty caused by the new Omicron variant.
Interest rates will pile up if we don't extend the pause. Schumer said students owe a fortune. We're not getting out of this as quickly as we would like.
The same day, 14 Democratic senators sent a letter to Biden asking him to continue to waive interest on the loans to prevent them from ballooning.
The Student Borrower Protection Center sent another letter to Biden on Thursday, asking him to extend the pause until he fulfilled his campaign promises of fixing loan forgiveness programs and cancelling student debt.
Many borrowers worry that they won't be able to afford their student-loan bills when their payments resume in 55 days. A survey by the Student Debt Crisis Center found that 89% of fully-employed borrowers don't feel financially secure enough to make their payments next year, and Insider has spoken to borrowers who feel the same.
Gwen Carney, a single grandmother with $75,000 in student debt, told Insider that she was very anxious because she had to find an extra $200. I don't have it.
The Education Department has not commented on the extension.
