As the pandemic wears on, the job market remains in flux, and life in general remains full of uncertainty, President Joe Biden did the right thing by once again extending federal student loan repayments until January 2022.

“As our nation’s economy continues to recover from a deep hole, this final extension will give students and borrowers the time they need to plan for restart and ensure a smooth pathway back to repayment,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.

While it is true there are jobs available in today’s market, many of those still paying off student loans used that money to get degrees they hoped would help them get a job with a higher pay rate. They hoped there would be a return on their investment. So while they may be able to make a living in today’s job market, those jobs may not offer them the kind of pay that will help them pay back their loans as quickly as they’d hoped. Right now, they need the breathing room.

The longer the pushback on the federal student loan repayment due date, the more time we give our economy and businesses to get back some of the ground lost during the pandemic. According to the Associated Press, the United States is still almost 6 million jobs short of where it was in March 2020.

We are getting better, but are not quite there yet. We can afford to give our college students more time to pay back costly loans, as we give our economy more time to get them back to a position where they can afford to do so.

editorial@vindy.com