Times of uncertainty require government leaders to step up and provide security. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced today that borrowers can temporarily suspend student loan payments without financial penalty. This, combined with last week’s announcement from the Trump administration that it will waive all interest on federal student loans, will provide relief to tens of millions of borrowers.
"These are anxious times, particularly for students and families whose educations, careers, and lives have been disrupted. Right now, everyone should be focused on staying safe and healthy, not worrying about their student loan balance growing…” Read more from Secretary Devos here.
Additionally, the Department announced today that it will offer states a waiver from a federally mandated testing requirement if they are unable to adequately assess their students due to the ongoing national emergency.
"Students need to be focused on staying healthy and continuing to learn. Teachers need to be able to focus on remote learning and other adaptations. Neither students nor teachers need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this difficult time. Students are simply too unlikely to be able to perform their best in this environment. Our actions today provide turnkey flexibilities for state and local leaders to focus on the immediate needs of their students and educators without worrying about federal repercussions…” Read more from Secretary DeVos here.
By temporarily suspending student loan payments and offering waivers of standardized testing requirements for this school year, Secretary DeVos is ensuring students, teachers, and faculty can focus on what is most important during these trying times: staying healthy.
