Coronavirus: What happens with US student loans?

Americans are facing an uncertain future with the coronavirus all but destroying normal life for millions. Work has stopped and 20 million have applied for unemployment in the last month alone. According to a report in 2018, 92% of Americans in colleges and universities have taken out loans to educate themselves. There is over 1 trillion dollars outstanding in federal loans to students and with classes stopped along with unemployment rising, thousands of those students are worried about how to pay theirs back.

At the end of March, Donald Trump signed the CARES Act Law, which stands for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security and was designed to mitigate the economic fall-out from the current pandemic. The country has never seen anything of its scope before with money going directly to citizens and companies that keep the country going.

The CARES Act bill has been criticised for focusing too heavily on larger businesses but it will offer some relief for students who have borrowed to put themselves through college.

Student loan payments

The studentaid website says: "Your payments will automatically stop from March 13, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2020."

It continues: "To provide relief to student loan borrowers during the COVID-19 national emergency, federal student loan borrowers are automatically being placed in an administrative forbearance, which allows you to temporarily stop making your monthly loan payment. This suspension of payments will last until Sept. 30, 2020, but you can still make payments if you choose. Read the borrower Q&As below to learn more."

Student loans have 0% interest until September also and the CARES Act Law has put 14 billion dollars aside for higher education emergency relief to provide cash grants to students for costs such as course materials, technology, food, housing, and child care

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