For the better part of 18 months, I’ve been living in a student loan-free fantasy world and earlier this month reality came knocking in the form of an announcement from the Biden administration about the impending end to the extended freeze on federal student loan repayments. The news I knew would eventually come was finally here.
Since graduating from college I’ve been taking advantage of the freeze, and for the most part, not thinking about my loans at all. Once every couple of months or so I’d check on my loans and do a cursory Google to see if there was any chatter about the freeze being extended (or better yet, loans being forgiven.) For eighteen blissful months, the news was the same. Loan repayments are paused — for now.
Satisfied that I still had more time on my hands, I’d close out my Department of Education tabs and go about my business in my fantasy world. At least for a little while longer, I could be a recent college graduate with disposable income.
Amid all of the terrible news brought on by the pandemic, the freeze on federal loan repayments was a saving grace. I was apprehensive about discussing the topic of my loan repayment in this newsletter given how much my thoughts on it have been colored by the pandemic. There’s no graceful way to admit that for myself and many others, the consequences of the pandemic have actually been good for our student debt.
I’ve found that a lot of other borrowers are in a similar position. Here’s just a couple of responses to an Instagram post about the freeze: