Federal student loan pause extended for sixth time

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - More than 43 million student loan borrowers will get more time before they have to start repaying their federal student loans.

It began when the pandemic started and was supposed to expire on May 1, 2022.

However, on Wednesday, the Biden administration announced yet another freeze on federal student loan payments. This time until Aug. 31, 2022.

“They want to have a solution in place before they lift the moratorium,” said Michael Kitchen, the senior managing editor at Studentloanhero.com. “Before this most recent extension, the White House had said we’re either going to extend the moratorium, or we’re going to find some kind of a solution that maybe would invest some form of forgiveness.”

Studentloanhero.com was founded to help student loan borrowers organize, manage and repay their student loan debt.

In a survey conducted last month by the company, of the 945 people surveyed, 58% say they haven’t made any payments since the pause started.

On the flip side, 22% of people have made their monthly payments.

“If you have the money to do it, that’s a great way to do it,” Kitchen said. “If you’re not paying interest, all the money is going directly to the principal. So, you can really cut away at it.”

The company says 75,000 Vermonters have federal student loans. The Green Mountain State ranks 13th in the country for average federal loan debt, at more than $37,000 per person.

Kitchen says throughout the 25-month pause, on average, Vermonters in repayment have saved more than $7,000 during that time.

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