Student loan borrowers haven't had to make payments since March -- but that piece of federal pandemic relief is set to expire on December 31, unless President Donald Trump or Congress act to extend it.

The Education Department (ED) has created a new website for borrowers who are seeking debt relief after being defrauded by a college. But one expert involved in litigating these borrower defense claims said the changes were mostly cosmetic.

The federal government is the primary lender for students who borrow money for college and graduate school, and the Education Department directly holds more than $1.4 trillion in student debt. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s administration will have the ability to make changes that can directly affect millions of borrowers’ monthly bills.

Activists, advocates and scholars have been arguing for years that cancelling student-loan debt would provide an economic stimulus, correct decades of policy failure — and that the president has the authority to do it.

As people and markets around the world brace for Joe Biden’s move into the White House, a key factor is what the veteran Democratic politician could accomplish without having to work with Congress.

President-elect Joe Biden made a campaign proposal to erase $10,000 for roughly 37 million Americans who owe federally-backed student loan debt, and experts are divided on whether the incoming president will be able to make good on that promise.

Joe Biden was projected Saturday to become the nation’s next president, according to the Associated Press, after campaigning on an ambitious domestic agenda he hopes will improve voters’ finances and invigorate an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Tax hikes for the rich, broadened health care coverage and student loan forgiveness were some of the projects on candidate Biden’s to-do list.