One of the major bonuses to taking out federal loans is that there is opportunity for your loans to be forgiven, meaning you will no longer be required to make payments back to the Department of Education, the entity that you borrowed money from to pay for school.  There are different types of student loan forgiveness for each type of federal loan. Also, due to the impacts of COVID-19, the White House and Administration has moved to extend the pause on student loan repayment through May 1, 2022.