President Biden said on Wednesday that his administration had extended a moratorium on student loan repayments by 90 days, continuing a relief measure that began nearly two years ago.
Nearly 27 million borrowers have not been paying their bill since early 2020.
Mr. Biden said in a statement that student loan borrowers need some more time before they resume payments because of the effects of the Pandemic.
Mr. Biden has been pressured by Democratic lawmakers to fulfill his campaign promise to forgive $10,000 per person holding federal student loan debt. Since taking office, Mr. Biden has called for Congress to pass a bill. The president has avoided calls from Schumer, the Democratic leader of New York, who asked him to forgive as much as $50,000 through executive action.
Instead, Mr. Biden chose to approve a pause on payments that has frozen interest accruals on tens of millions of loans. Some 7.2 million borrowers were given a reprieve from collections.
The administrative forbearance was put in place as part of the Coronaviruses Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and was later extended by President Donald J. Trump. When Mr. Biden took office in January, he pushed the date back to Sept. 30, and then in August he delayed it one final time to Jan. 31. The education secretary and the vice president emphasized that borrowers should begin preparing for payments to restart.
Mr. Cardona said that the Education Department would work to ensure a smooth return to repayment and that loan servicers would be better at customer service.
Even so, the kind of sweeping forgiveness that many progressives and activists sought has remained elusive, and some of them quickly pointed out that the Biden administration could do more.
In recent months, Mr. Biden has not responded to pleas to take action on student loans. Vice President Harris spoke about the need to give relief to borrowers.
Ms. Harris said that she had student loans. It is standing in the way of people being able to start a family or buy a home because of student loan debt. We need to deal with it.
The White House wanted to give Ms. Harris credit for her role in persuading the president to approve the extension. Ms. Harris was one of the people who had conversations with the White House press secretary. The student loan extension was not related to the president's social spending plan, according to Ms. Psaki.
The president thought a lot about this over the last few days and decided to extend until May.
More than $7 billion for people with a total and permanent disability was wiped away by the Biden administration through targeted measures, according to the Education Department.
The administration's decision was praised by activists.
The executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center said that the Biden administration has thrown a lifeline to student loan borrowers. It was necessary for borrowers to be able to stay afloat.
People who are struggling to repay student loan debt said the extension was helpful.
The loan freeze helped Linette regain her financial footing, and she welcomed another three months of relief.
Her loans now amount to more than $79,000, or $8,000 more than she borrowed, after experiencing financial hardship, including the death of her husband. After the payment freeze, Ms. Greene put her finances back in order, but she is worried about what will happen after the pause.
If the Biden administration could bring her loans out of default, it would be easier for her to be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. She would be able to pay her debt by the time she is 66.
She said that she would have to pay the loans for the rest of her life.
She said that she would have to pay her student loan bill into her coffin as she died.
