President Biden has extended the pause on student loan payments and interest — which was set to end on Feb. 1 — for an extra 90 days through May 1, 2022, pointing to continuing financial uncertainty as the Omicron variant spreads throughout the U.S.
"The extension will allow the Administration to assess the impacts of the Omicron variant on student borrowers and provide additional time for borrowers to plan for the resumption of payments and reduce the risk of delinquency and defaults after restart," stated the U.S. Department of Education in a press release Wednesday.
The Trump administration first froze the balances on most federal student loans in March 2020, affecting nearly 41 million borrowers. In the nearly two years since then, the restart date has been pushed back by both administrations as the COVID-19 pandemic carries on.