- President Joe Biden has said he will announce a decision on student loan relief before August 31.
- White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said Tuesday he was not ready to make an announcement.
- Borrowers are waiting for a message to cancel the debt and extend the payment pause.
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With the potential for widespread student loan relief and an extended payment break, August is a high-stakes month for millions of federal borrowers.
But President Joe Biden doesn’t seem quite ready to announce relief.
Biden said last month that he would give himself until August 31 to decide on broad student loan forgiveness. This is also the time when payments should resume. It is said to be considering $10,000 in relief for borrowers making less than $150,000 a year. And while Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in June promised borrowers “sufficient notice” of any change in their balances, there has been no update.
White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that Biden would stick to his schedule through the end of August.
“So we’re still early, we’re getting to mid-August,” Jean-Pierre said. “So when he’s ready to make that decision, we’ll let you know.”
She said Biden “understands how student loans can affect a family and how the pressure of that can really be great and put a big burden on a family’s wallet or financial situation,” adding, “So we understand that. He does … he’ll make his decision on that and when he has something to say, we’ll share it.”
Lawmakers, lawyers and student loan companies have criticized the uncertainty surrounding student loan payments. Some have speculated that Biden will extend the pandemic-era pay freeze for a fifth time, as the Department of Education recently instructed credit companies to stop announcing resumption of payments.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have requested information on how the department plans to effectively implement the student loan relief, and although the department has not provided information, Politico recently obtained a memo outlining detailed plans to implement debt relief within months of signing of Biden- excluded.
But borrowers have little time to prepare. Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicer Alliance, a trade group that represents federal student loan servicers, told Insider earlier in August that the companies should have been communicating with borrowers “a month ago.”
“And that has to happen,” he said. “At this time, until the White House gives any different guidance, payments resume on September 1.”
While Republican lawmakers have criticized broad relief — three recently introduced laws that would have blocked Biden from enacting expansive loan forgiveness — some advocates want the president to make a big effort to reach as many borrowers as possible.
Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, wrote a letter in July urging Biden to extend the payment freeze and cancel at least $50,000 of student debt per borrower.
“The American people are alarmed. Voters are worried. Your base is anxious. Extending the freeze will only add to the anxiety millions of Americans are feeling,” Johnson wrote. “Thus, any extension must be accompanied by a meaningful cancellation,” he added. “We urge you to write off the $50,000 minimum because black borrowers — mired in an average of $53,000 in student debt — have virtually no realistic way to pay it back in today’s unfair economy.”
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