Shapiro, other AGs lobby for student loan relief
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and New York Attorney General Letitia James led a group of more than two dozen attorneys general in urging the U.S. Department of Education to use its emergency powers to help federal student loan borrowers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The attorneys general wrote a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos asking her to take specific steps to protect borrowers from further financial burden and debt collection because of job losses and lost wages.
The letter said that although the Department of Education has already taken some steps to help student loan borrowers, further measures are needed.
“Right now, Pennsylvanians are losing their jobs at historic rates and need to pay for groceries and keep their families healthy,” Mr. Shapiro said in a statement late last week. “Secretary DeVos must act immediately to provide relief for those in need. Using her authority to suspend loan payments is in the best interest of all Americans during this emergency.”
The attorneys general said the the department should stop all new and continuing involuntary collection activities for federal student loan borrowers amid the pandemic.
The department should also assist all federal student loan borrowers who are in or enter into forbearance, who are or become delinquent on their loans, or who request enrollment in an Income Driven Repayment Plan, the letter said. The attorneys general
suggested that those borrowers automatically be enrolled into an IDR plan with a $0-per-month payment, without requiring submission of an IDR application, verification of income or recertification for the duration of the crisis. They said this step would permit struggling borrowers to suspend payments while continuing to make progress toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness or IDR loan forgiveness.
In addition to that, the department should extend eligibility for all additional relief available to previously announced changes for those affected by national emergencies to all federal loan borrowers for the duration of the pandemic.
Angela Morabito, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said in a statement that “Secretary DeVos has already set the federal student loan interest rate to zero and authorized borrowers to press pause on their student loan payments, without penalty, for at least 60 days.” She added that the department will execute the measures laid out in the CARES Act for economic relief for the pandemic.
“The Department is constantly monitoring the national emergency situation and will continue to respond to the needs of students and borrowers,” she said.