Biden must extend the student-loan payment pause 'to put a stop to this crisis in the making before it begins,' 210 advocacy groups say

210 groups advocacy groups urged Biden to extend the student-loan payment pause that expires May 1.
They cited rising inflation and ongoing issues with the student-loan industry and forgiveness programs.
Ron Klain suggested last week another extension, or loan forgiveness, may be coming before May.

President Joe Biden has extended the pause on student-loan payments three times during his presidency. Advocates want him to make that four.

On Monday, 210 advocacy groups and unions — led by the Student Borrower Protection Center — called on Biden to extend the student-loan payment pause again before payments are set to resume on May 1. They wrote that borrowers are "ill-equipped" to pay off their debt as inflation continues to rise, and the impact of the payment pause for the duration of the pandemic has been significant, given that borrowers who have chosen to pay off their loans during the pandemic did not have to deal with high interest rates.

"We, the undersigned 210 organizations, write to urge you to put a stop to this crisis in the making before it begins and extend the current pause on student loan payments," the letter said. "It is clear that payments should not resume until your administration has fully delivered on the promises you made to student loan borrowers to fix the broken student loan system and cancel a substantial amount of federal student debt."

Former-president Donald Trump was the first to institute a pause on student-loan payments, with waived interest, when the pandemic began. Since then, most of the 43 million federal borrowers have not been required to make payments on their debt loads, providing financial relief to those struggling with the effects of COVID-19 and job losses. And while Biden has acted on the issue by extending the pause multiple times, some advocates and lawmakers argue he should either keep extending the pause, or cancel student debt altogether.

The organizations also pointed to Biden's campaign pledge to reform the student-loan industry. Not only did Biden pledge to approve $10,000 in student-loan relief for every federal borrower — he said he would fix broken loan forgiveness programs, like Public Service Loan Forgiveness and disability discharges, which are currently a work in progress.

"It is critical that your administration continue to deliver on your promises made to student loan borrowers and their families before ending the pause in payments and collections," the organizations wrote.

It's unclear how Biden plans to act on the $1.7 trillion student-debt crisis going forward, especially given his silence on the issue. But last week, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain indicated to Pod Save America that there might be more relief to come for student-loan borrowers leading up to the expected payment resumption.

"The President is going to look at what we should do on student debt before the pause expires, or he'll extend the pause," Klain said, adding that "the question whether or not there's some executive action on student debt forgiveness when payments resume is a decision we're going to take before payments resume."

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