Student loan borrowers stage a sit-in on Capitol Hill at the office of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to urge him to stop trying to block student debt cancellation on May 9, 2023, in Washington, D.C.Ending the student loan payment freeze may push millions of people into economic precarity, as almost 7 in 10 student debtors either won’t be able to make student debt payments or will have to cut back spending in other areas when payments resume this year, a new survey found.
. The survey found that only 29 percent of student loan borrowers feel confident that they will be able to afford payments without having to cut spending elsewhere. Other debtors will face more uncertainty. Thirty-seven percent of borrowers said that they will have to cut spending from other areas, while over a third, or 34 percent, of borrowers said that they will not be able to make payments at all when they restart. The largest impact will be on low-income households, the survey said.
Meanwhile, concerns about making any debt payments or paying rent or their mortgage bills have hit all-time highs, the survey . Nearly one-third, or 31 percent, said that being unable to repay debts was their number one concern for the year, while 27 percent said that making housing payments was a major concern.