Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, starting on March 13, 2020, the U.S. federal government paused payments on federal student loans, moving billions of dollars of student debt into forbearance. Federal student loans are in forbearance, meaning that no payments need to be made, and the interest rate has been set to zero percent until September 30, 2021. However, despite these measures, student debt increased in all states. The amount of student debt increased by 14 percent in Alaska between 2019 and 2020, the most out of any state.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, starting on March 13, 2020, the U.S. federal government paused payments on federal student loans, moving billions of dollars of student debt into forbearance. Federal student loans are in forbearance, meaning that no payments need to be made, and the interest rate has been set to zero percent until September 30, 2021. Because of this, student loan delinquencies also decreased, with the largest percent change experienced by accounts that are 90 to 180 days past due, with a 94 percent decrease in delinquencies.