MACON, Ga. — In one of his first actions as president, Joe Biden will be asking the Board of Education to extend the near-yearlong pause on student loan payments, and for the Biden administration that means stopping student loan payments, interest-free.
Payments were scheduled to resume at the end of January. Now the pause is extended through Sept. 30.
According to Wayne Johnson, who headed the Office of Federal Student Aid under former President Donald Trump, those with student loan payments will be able to save an average of about $4,000 during the pause.
“The average payment is about $450 a month, but we have people that have payments up to almost $2,500 a month, so at this point in time, to be able to get the payment relief between $400 and $2,500 per month is incredibly important,” said Johnson.
Dean Yusuf, a sophomore at Mercer University, said saving that monthly loan payment is like a scholarship.
“I’ve had to start looking at finding grant opportunities to be able to pay off the loan. But with this, it's like a scholarship to me."
This Executive Order isn't only benefiting students, but also a lot of people on social security.
"Believe it or not, a lot of elderly people have loans,” said Johnson. They actually signed up for parent plus loans to put their children to school.”
It isn't clear how the Biden administration plans to handle the whopping $1.6 trillion student debt, but Johnson said this is a good first step.
"There's so much uncertainty about what needs to be done about the broken student loan system that it's incredibly important to just hit the pause button."