4 Key Student Loan Dates to Watch for in 2022

A lot is happening for student loan borrowers this year, and keeping track of critical dates and deadlines can be daunting. Here's a timeline of some key dates to keep an eye on in 2022.

December 31, 2022: End of the student loan payment pause

Note: since the post was published, the student loan pause was extended to around August 30, 2023, unless courts rule on student loan relief lawsuits sooner.

Most federal student loan payments have been on pause since March 2020, and interest has been suspended. That emergency relief was initially supposed to last six months following Congress's passing of the CARES Act in response to the emerging Covid-19 pandemic. But President Trump, and then President Biden, extended the relief several times.

President Biden’s most recent extension of the student loan pause is now set to expire around August 30, 2023, unless the courts rule on lawsuits sooner than that. Afterward, millions of borrowers will resume repayment all at the same time, following over two years of a national forbearance. Such a situation is unprecedented.

Is it possible that Biden could extend the payment pause yet again? It’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Earlier this week, in response to a press question about student loan forgiveness, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that “if [student loan repayment] resumes… Biden will continue working to ensure a smooth transition to repayment.”

Some student loan borrower advocates honed in on the word “if,” which some interpreted to suggest that additional relief for borrowers, or a further extension of the payment pause, might be in the works. But so far, the Biden administration has not directly indicated this, and borrowers should prepare to resume repayment this coming May.

July 2022: Navient settlement relief

In January 2022, 39 state attorneys general reached a settlement agreement with student loan giant Navient to resolve claims of unfair and deceptive loan servicing practices and allegations of predatory lending. Navient did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

However, thousands of borrowers will be entitled to some form of relief under the settlement agreement. Some private student loan borrowers who attended certain predatory for-profit institutions may be entitled to student loan cancellation, which is expected to total $1.7 billion.

In addition, some federal student loan borrowers who were improperly steered into forbearances, rather than being counseled to select an income-driven repayment plan, may be eligible to receive some modest restitution payment. This payment is estimated to be about $260 per borrower.

The relief being provided is narrow and requires borrowers to meet very strict eligibility criteria, which you can learn about on Navient's settlement page. Ultimately, borrowers cannot affirmatively request or apply for the relief. Instead, settlement administrators will determine eligibility and disburse it automatically.

According to the settlement administrator, borrowers receiving private loan debt cancellation will receive a notice from Navient by July 2022, along with refunds of any payments made on the canceled private loans after June 30, 2021.

Federal student loan borrowers entitled to restitution should be notified by this time as well, although relief could come as soon as this spring.

September 2022: FedLoan Servicing transfers complete

Last year, several of the Department of Education's student loan servicers — contractors operating the government's vast federal student loan portfolio — announced that they would be withdrawing from its Federal Student Aid system.

FedLoan Servicing, the Direct Loan servicing arm of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), was initially set to end its contract in December 2021. But at the last minute, FedLoan and the Education Department reached an agreement to extend the contract for another year to ensure a smoother transition for FedLoan’s 8.5 million borrower accounts.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), approximately three million borrowers have already been transferred from FedLoan to the Department’s other student loan servicers such as Navient (now Aidvantage), Nelnet, and Great Lakes Higher Education.

Another Department loan servicer called MOHELA is expected to take over the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program from FedLoan, which has been the Department's primary contractor administering that program.

The GAO expects FedLoan’s servicing transfers to be completed by the end of the summer.

Borrowers who may experience a servicing transfer can take steps to prepare and protect themselves by updating their contact information, reviewing their StudentAid.gov accounts, and downloading and saving essential servicer records such as payment histories and important correspondence.

October 31, 2022: End of the Limited PSLF Waiver

Editor's note: The PSLF Waiver expired on October 31, 2022. However, nearly all of the benefits are still available through the IDR Waiver until April 30, 2024, for those currently working in qualifying not-for-profit or government jobs.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is a popular federal student loan forgiveness program that can wipe out the federal student loan debt for borrowers who commit their careers to work for nonprofit organizations or public entities.

But PSLF has had restrictive eligibility criteria, limiting relief to borrowers with only certain kinds of federal student loans that are repaid under specific repayment plans. Historically, student loan servicers poorly communicated these requirements to borrowers, and, as a result, PSLF has suffered from alarmingly low approval rates.

In October 2021, the Biden administration announced the creation of the “Limited PSLF Waiver” program. Under this initiative, for a limited time, borrowers are able to get past payments that may otherwise have been rejected to count towards PSLF.

Specifically, periods of repayment on non-Direct federal student loans (such as FFEL loans and Perkins loans) under any available repayment plan may now count towards PSLF, as long as the borrower was working in qualifying PSLF employment. Even partial and untimely payments can potentially count.

Some of this relief is being provided automatically, specifically, for borrowers whose loans are already Direct-program loans and who have certified their employment by completing the PSLF employment certification form.

But borrowers with FFEL-program federal loans and Perkins Loans would need to consolidate those loans through the federal Direct consolidation loan program. And many borrowers will also need to submit new PSLF employment certifications to capture any previously-rejected or otherwise uncounted payments.

Because the Limited PSLF Waiver is temporary, borrowers have a limited time to act — the deadline is October 31, 2022.

But borrowers should not wait until the last minute. The Department of Education has set up a detailed website to guide borrowers interested in seeking relief under the waiver program.