Continued Student Loan Payment Relief During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This memorandum directs the Secretary of Education to extend temporary student loan payment relief—suspending payments and setting interest rates to 0%—through December 31, 2020, building on earlier COVID-19 relief measures scheduled to expire September 30, 2020. Borrowers may still make voluntary payments during this period.

Federal Register Open PDF 85 FR 49585

Impact dates

Dec 31, 2020
Student loan payment relief expires (cessation of payments and interest waiver ends)
Sep 30, 2020
CARES Act student loan relief expires (contextual deadline referenced)

Key directives

Secretary of Education shall take action to effectuate waivers and modifications to economic hardship deferments under 20 U.S.C. 1087e(f)(2)(D)
Continue temporary cessation of payments and waiver of all interest on federally held student loans until December 31, 2020
Allow voluntary continued payments notwithstanding deferments
Publish memorandum in the Federal Register

Who is ordered

Secretary of Education · Department of Education

Timeline

Immediate

Secretary of Education directed to take action to extend relief

Near term (90d)

Relief period runs through December 31, 2020
CARES Act relief expires September 30, 2020

Long term

No structural changes to student loan program; temporary measure only

Risks & tensions

Extension uses 'until such time that the economy has stabilized, schools have re-opened, and the crisis...has subsided' as policy rationale, but hard deadline of December 31, 2020 may not align with those conditions
Relief limited to loans 'held by the Department of Education'—excludes commercially held FFEL and private loans
Temporary measure creates cliff effect at year-end; no automatic extension mechanism
Subject to availability of appropriations creates contingent implementation risk