Biden must extend the student-loan-payment pause 'to put a stop to this crisis in the making before it begins,' 210 advocacy groups say

• Some 210 advocacy groups urged Biden to extend the student-loan-payment pause that expires May 1.
• They cited inflation and ongoing issues with the student-loan industry and forgiveness programs.

President Joe Biden has extended the pause on student-loan payments three times during his presidency. Advocates want him to make that four.

On Monday, 210 advocacy groups and unions — led by the Student Borrower Protection Center — called on Biden to extend the student-loan-payment pause again before May 1, when payments are set to resume. They wrote that borrowers were "ill-equipped" to pay off their debt as inflation continued to rise, and that the effect of the payment pause for the duration of the pandemic had been significant, given that borrowers who chose to pay off their loans during the pandemic didn't have to deal with high interest rates.

"We, the undersigned 210 organizations, write to urge you to put a stop to this crisis in the making before it begins and extend the current pause on student loan payments," the letter said. "It is clear that payments should not resume until your administration has fully delivered on the promises you made to student loan borrowers to fix the broken student loan system and cancel a substantial amount of federal student debt."

President Donald Trump was the first to institute a pause on student-loan payments, with waived interest, when the pandemic began. Since then, most of the 43 million federal borrowers have not been required to make payments on their student debt, which provided financial relief to those struggling with the effects of COVID-19 and job losses. Though Biden has acted on the issue by extending the pause multiple times, some advocates and lawmakers argue that he should either keep extending the pause or cancel student debt altogether.

The organizations also mentioned Biden's campaign pledge to reform the student-loan industry. Biden pledged not only to approve $10,000 in student-loan relief for every federal borrower but also to fix broken loan-forgiveness programs, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness and disability discharges, which are a work in progress.

"It is critical that your administration continue to deliver on your promises made to student loan borrowers and their families before ending the pause in payments and collections," the organizations wrote.

It's unclear how Biden intends to act on the $1.7 trillion student-debt crisis going forward, especially given his silence on the issue. But last week, Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, indicated to "Pod Save America" that there might be more relief to come for student-loan borrowers leading up to the expected payment resumption.

"The president is going to look at what we should do on student debt before the pause expires, or he'll extend the pause," Klain said. He added, "The question whether or not there's some executive action on student-debt forgiveness when payments resume is a decision we're going to take before payments resume."