Higher Ed Policy Roundup: Vol. 5 - Issue 54

On Wednesday, top Democratic members of Congress urged President Joe Biden to extend the pause on federal student loan payments and interest collection to at least the end of 2022. They argue that the Education Department (ED) needs more time to fix ongoing issues with the repayment system and that providing borrowers with an extension would better prepare them to transition back into repayment. Though there have been signs that the Biden administration may agree to an extension, recall that ED instructed its federal student loan servicers not to provide borrowers with notices about student loan payment resumption, the pause on federal student loans and interest payments is set to expire on May 1, 2022.

How the Federal Reserve’s rate hike impacts student loan borrowers.

A new poll by Morning Consult and Politico found that half of all voters support an additional extension of the student loan payment pause.

Employer provided student debt assistance is up, but may be topping out, says new analysis by consulting firm Alight.

The following bills have been recently introduced for consideration by the 117th Congress (2021-2022):

H.R. 7058 – Federal Student Loan Integrity Act [Rep. Bob Good (R-VA-5)] would prohibit the Secretary of Education from authorizing an additional deadline extension of the student loan payment pause that was established at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

S. 3827 – Teacher Loan Forgiveness Improvement Act [Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI] would allow qualifying teachers to be eligible for up to $30,000 in student loan relief. A companion bill, H.R. 2987, was introduced in the House by Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA-2).