<aside> 💡 This page is designed to provide information to those who possess outstanding student loans and whose ability to pay off these student loans has been hindered by COVID-19.

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<aside> 🚨 || Updates ||

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• Regarding Federal Work-Study jobs:
  • If you started your job before coronavirus-related disruptions began but are now unable to (due to online semester or other reasons), your school may pay you for your regularly scheduled hours or allow you to work via another means. Contact your university for specifics.
  • If you had not started your job before coronavirus-related disruptions began, you may not be paid Federal Work-Study wages for hours you cannot work. Contact your university for specifics.
• After the CARES Act:
  • The initial CARES Act is set to expire on September 30th, 2020.
  • According to Forbes Magazine, "student loan forgiveness [and debt cancellation] in the next stimulus bill seems unlikely at the time" and doesn't have bipartisan support. However, an extension on the payment pause period for student loan borrowers through the end of this year/into next is very plausible.
  • The HEROES Act, proposed by the Democrats and passed by the House (although stalled on the floor of the Senate and likely to be discarded), reduced student loan forgiveness in order to lower the overall cost of the bill. It did, however, call for the extension on the payment pause for student loan borrowers until September 30th, 2021. It seems the GOP Senate leadership will discard the HEROES Act and release their own stimulus package by the end of July.

Under CARES Act

Student Loan Provisions Under the CARES Act

• The federal government has enacted the following student loan provisions under the CARES Act. These provisions remain valid through September 30, 2020:

Actions to Take to Benefit From the CARES Act

Your student loan servicer will automatically apply the six-month payment suspension and interest rate reduction to your account. However, there are a few additional items steps you may want to take:

• Cancel your autopay.
• Enroll in or recertify your income-driven repayment plan.
• If your wages are being garnished, speak with your Human Resources department to have the garnishment paused.

Types of Loans

Currently the interest free halt on repayment applies only to federal student loans owned by the Department of Education. This covers most government issued loans, but some Federal Family Education Loans (FFELs) are commercially-held, and some Perkins loans are owned by the individual’s college.

In general, an FFEL loan borrowed before 2010 is unlikely to meet the criteria for relief. For any Perkins loan, you could clear up confusion by calling your loan service director directly or by contacting your university’s financial aid office.

Federal Loans

If you are unsure what kind of loan you have, start by logging into the Federal Student Aid (FSA) website with your FSA ID to view all of your federal loans.

• There are a few types of federal student loans, including Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans, and Perkins loans. You can figure out what type of federal student loan you have using the following methods (please click the triangle to the left to view):

Federal Servicers

• All federal servicers are doing the same thing: automatically processing the six-month interest and payment suspension on federal student loans...