When will you have to start paying your student loans again? Education Department explains

(NEXSTAR) – While federal student loan borrowers are still in a bit of limbo as the Supreme Court continues mulling President Joe Biden’s debt relief plan, the Department of Education has offered a bit of clarification regarding impending payments.

Borrowers haven’t been required to make regular payments on their debt since March 2020 when then-President Trump started the freeze in response to the COVID pandemic. It’s been extended multiple times since, including the most recent extension issued by Biden in November, which he called the final such move. 

As part of the debt bill Biden signed earlier this month, the pause can’t be extended again. Since then, it hasn’t been clear when exactly borrowers would be on the hook again for payments.

That changed Monday when the Education Department shared new information.

“Student loan interest will resume starting on Sept. 1, 2023, and payments will be due starting in October,” the department says in a notice online. “We will notify borrowers well before payments restart.”

Borrowers will have different dates in October in which their loans will be due.

“We recognize that the return to repayment would result in significant financial hardship for many borrowers. That is why this Administration also put forward a plan to provide up to $20,000 in debt relief for hard-working Americans recovering from the economic harms of the pandemic, most of whom make less than $75,000 a year, and why we continue to fight for that relief on behalf of the millions of borrowers who need it,” a spokesperson tells Nexstar. “We will also be in direct touch with borrowers and ramping up our communications with servicers well before repayment resumes to ensure borrowers and their families are receiving accurate and timely information about the return to repayment.”

The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a decision on Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan as early as this week.

Under Biden’s plan, roughly 40 million borrowers could receive $10,000 in loan forgiveness if they make less than $125,000 a year or $20,000 in forgiveness for Pell Grant recipients.

While you wait for payments to restart, there are a few things you can do to be prepared.

A new analysis from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns 1 in 5 borrowers could struggle with student loan repayments. More borrowers could also fall behind on other debt obligations when payments resume, according to NerdWallet.