AOC: Borrowers shouldn’t resume student loan payments in May

February 11, 2022
By: Freedom to Prosper Team

In a recent interview, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “I cannot understate the danger and the risk — economically, politically, and just where we are right now as a country — of allowing the moratorium on student loan payments to lapse in May.”

Some economists and advocates argue the U.S. economy has been “okay” without student loan repayments, so should the moratorium be extended indefinitely?

The moratorium on student loan payments has been a lifesaver for many Americans already struggling with the pressures of the pandemic economy. Unemployment, uncertain wages, unreliable hours, and health risks of in-person work. The pandemic has had an unimaginable toll physically, economically and emotionally.

Although it has been two years since the coronavirus pandemic began, we, as a country, are nowhere near “back to normal.” Borrowers are certainly not ready for student loan payments to resume. Nor does it seem that the loan servicers that the federal government contracts with to assist borrowers in selecting the best repayment plan or navigating deferment or forbearance options are currently up to the task.

An indefinite moratorium would effectively cancel all student loan debt, which Freedom to Prosper wholeheartedly supports, until the Congress can enact legislation to address the technical legal issues that prevents the Biden Administration from cancelling the debt with a stroke of a pen. We applaud President Biden and his administration for what they have already been doing to incrementally provide relief to student loan borrowers. While we await information from the Department of Education on the legality of cancelling student debt by executive action, we must do everything we can to continue building support for student debt cancellation and reimburse America’s students for their contributions to society.

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