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Monday, Jun. 12, 2023

Did pausing student loan repayments cost $5 billion per month?

Tom Kertscher, Wisconsin Watch
yes

Summarizing an analysis by the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Education Next reported, "The pause of collections on loans, interest, and defaults costs $5 billion per month" — the same amount the U.S. Education Department said was saved by about 40 million student loan borrowers.

Student loan repayments were first paused by the Trump administration in March 2020 because of the pandemic. The Biden administration ordered more pauses.

On June 3, 2023, President Biden signed legislation raising the federal debt ceiling that prevents him from extending the pause past the end of the summer, when it's set to expire.

Federal student loans are made by the government. Interest did not accrue on these loans during the pause, but continued to on private student loans issued by financial institutions and schools.

Forty-five million Americans collectively owe $1.6 trillion in federal student loans, according to the New York Times.

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