Discussion Paper

Student Loan Balance and Repayment Trends Since the Pandemic Disruption

Abstract: This month marks five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, after which subsequent policy responses upended most trends underlying student loans in the U.S. Beginning in March 2020, executive and legislative actions suspended student loan payments and the accumulation of interest for loans owned by the federal government. In addition, federal actions marked all past due and defaulted federal student loans as current, driving the delinquency rate on student loans below 1 percent by November 2022. Payments on federal student loans resumed in October 2023 after forty-three months of suspension. This post is the first of two highlighting trends in balances, repayment, and delinquency for student loans since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and how trends may shift without pandemic supports.

JEL Classification: G51; I22;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Part of Series: Liberty Street Economics

Publication Date: 2025-03-26

Number: 20250326a