Student-loan borrowers will begin making payments in October — and they'll be notified 'well before' their first bill is due, Biden's Education Department says

• Student-loan borrowers will resume payments in October, the Education Department confirmed.
• Interest will start accruing on borrowers' balances in September.

As student-loan borrowers continue to await a decision from the Supreme Court on President Joe Biden's broad debt relief, the Education Department has made one thing certain — payments are resuming this year.

In November, after two conservative-backed lawsuits paused the implementation of Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers, the department also extended the student-loan payment pause through 60 days after June 30, or 60 days after the Supreme Court issued its final decision on the legality of the relief, whichever happens first.

Documents obtained by Politico in April brought to light additional details surrounding that timeline. Per the documents, the department was preparing to resume interest accrual on borrowers' student loans in September, and they would not be hit with a bill until October. Those dates were codified under the bill to raise the debt ceiling Biden just signed into law — a provision within the bill ensured that the student-loan payment pause cannot be extended again this year, regardless of how the Supreme Court rules.

An Education Department spokesperson confirmed the payment resumption timeline to Politico on Monday following the debt-ceiling provision.

"Student loan interest will resume starting on September 1, 2023, and payments will be due starting in October," the spokesperson said. "We will notify borrowers well before payments restart."

"In spite of our opponents' best efforts to sabotage our work to support student borrowers, we are fully committed to helping borrowers successfully navigate the return to repayment with the pandemic now behind us," the spokesperson added.

A Supreme Court decision could come on Friday or the next two Thursdays of June, and additional days could be added to the calendar. Republican lawmakers have long opposed further debt relief — they led an effort to overturn student-debt relief and end the payment pause through a bill that passed Congress, but Biden vetoed the legislation last week.

Still, some Democratic lawmakers and advocates have argued that the provision to codify the end of the student-loan payment pause should not have made it into the debt-ceiling bill, especially if the Supreme Court strikes the broad debt relief down.

Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who introduced an amendment to remove that provision from the bill, previously told Insider that she would "absolutely" push for a payment pause extension should the relief get struck down. And California Rep. Ro Khanna told The Washington Post that "it would be political malpractice to have students repay student loans under Biden when Trump provided the relief. This is not rocket science."

"The White House must figure out how to make sure there is an extension on the moratorium," he said.

NAACP leaders have joined the push, as well. On Wednesday, NAACP President Derrick Johnson and Youth and College National Director Wisdom Cole sent a letter to Biden saying that "Black America demands that your
Administration pursue all legal pathways" to deliver relief.

"A primary case in point remains the need for comprehensive student debt relief and the increasing peril
faced by millions of borrowers, particularly Black borrowers, with the impending October 1 repayment
provision," they wrote. "Our concern is only heightened by the prospect of an unfavorable ruling in coming days framed by a conservative, right-wing majority of the Supreme Court. While we appreciate actions taken to prevent
the nation's economic catastrophe, Black student loan borrowers will bear the weight of the debt ceiling
compromise."