In case you missed it, the federal government has extended the Federal Student Loan Payment pause until after May 1 of this year. Our parent union, AFSCME, has been fighting for this, and it’s a great help for many Americans during the pandemic. AFSCME also provides help to individual union members with student debt, as described in this recent letter . . .
Dear member,
If you have federal student loans, there are some important deadlines and updates you should know about.
Millions of federal student loan borrowers have taken advantage of COVID-19 emergency relief and have had their loan payments paused since March 2020. In a victory for working people, President Joe Biden announced that the pause on student loan payments will be extended until May 1, 2022. This means federal student loan borrowers won’t have to start making payments until June 2022.
As your union, AFSCME fought hard to make sure this relief was put into place and that an extension was granted to provide further relief to working families. Public service workers continue to serve on the front lines in the fight against the virus and working families across the country are still struggling to cope with the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.
AFSCME will continue our strong advocacy to provide further student loan relief to working families, but we must also be prepared for a transition back to paying student loans. If you are a federal student loan borrower, we encourage you to read 6 Ways to Prepare for Student Loan Repayment to Begin Again. You can also visit StudentAid.gov/coronavirus to find the most up-to-date information about the restart of student loan payments.
Although the payment pause is scheduled to end, public service workers may be eligible for other student debt relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. We encourage you to review the requirements for this loan forgiveness programs, including the recent temporary changes to PSLF, which expand the number of public service workers eligible for loan forgiveness. To benefit from these changes to PSLF, some borrowers will need to take steps before Oct. 31, 2022. Learn more about these PSLF temporary changes at StudentAid.gov/pslfwaiver.
If you have questions or concerns about your student loans, you should contact your student loan servicer for free help. Contact information for loan servicers is available at on AFSCME’s Student Debt Resource page.
We will be reaching out in the New Year with more information about student debt relief. Stay tuned!
In Solidarity,
Nicole Pollard
Executive Assistant to the President