About 43 million people are expected to resume or start repayments of their student loans. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) has issued its final report and a toolkit for financial aid professionals across the nation in anticipation of the resumption of federal student loan repayments.
This week, experts from Western Governors University (WGU) provided a glimpse on how universities are preparing for the end of the pandemic loan pause.
Bob Collins, vice president of financial aid at WGU, stressed that it will be a challenge to prepare for the resumption of student loan repayments for roughly 43 million Americans. 
“These are unprecedented times,” said Collins. “There has never been a situation where [over] 40 million people need to take an action to resume payments of their student loans. So again, this is a pretty significant event that is happening here in the coming weeks, months.”
This month, the Biden Administration will resume charging students' interest and collecting repayment after a three-year federal loan payment pause that was issued during the pandemic. This aid provided relief for federal student loans including a suspension of loan payments and a 0 percent interest rate and the pause on collection on defaulted loans.
Institutions like WGU are taking a proactive approach to the incoming student loan repayments.
“We believe it's on the institutions to assist the loan servicers and the Department of Ed,” said Nate Blanchard, director of financial services at WGU. “Because we have responsibility over our cohort default rates as well. So, we need to be aware of that, not just to stay in compliance, but to really serve the borrowers who attended our institutions.”
