Student-loan borrowers can expect Biden to announce whether he will cancel their debt by the end of August

• Student-loan payments are set to resume in one month.
• Biden said he is planning to announce student-loan forgiveness before then.
• He is reportedly considering $10,000 in relief for borrowers making under $150,000 a year.

It's August, and for student-loan borrowers, that means one thing: President Joe Biden has one month to announce whether he will be cutting their debt balances.

And it will be a long-awaited announcement. While Biden told reporters in July that he will announce his decision for relief before payments resume on September 1, borrowers, lawmakers, and student-loan companies alike have been growing increasingly nervous as the clock continues to tick toward that date without any guidance from the White House, with a lot of uncertainty surrounding how effectively debt cancellation can be implemented on such short notice.

Since Biden said in April that he would make a decision on student-loan forgiveness "in the coming weeks," many borrowers have been anxiously awaiting details on what that relief will actually be, and when it will impact them. While the only certainty Biden has given so far is what the relief will not be — $50,000 in debt cancellation — he is reportedly considering $10,000 in forgiveness for borrowers making under $150,000 a year, an amount he pledged while on the campaign trail.

In June, Biden confirmed to reporters he was nearing a decision on relief, and during a White House press briefing last week, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that "as far as loan cancellation, Biden understands what this means for families, how burdensome this can be. I just don't have anything more to share. And he said himself, by the end of August, so that's right around the corner... He'll make a decision."

Biden has extended the pause on student-loan payments four times, and there's speculation he will do so once again after reports came out that his Education Department was telling loan companies to halt messaging surrounding the September 1 payment restart. But Education Secretary Miguel Cardona promised borrowers "ample notice" on any relief, and advocates and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns with the lack of notice and details surrounding any loan forgiveness Biden is planning.

Student-loan companies are hoping for guidance, as well. Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance — a trade group that represents federal student loan servicers — told Insider that communication on relief is long overdue.

"We need to be communicating with borrowers. We should have been doing that a month ago," Buchanan said. "And that needs to happen. At this point, until the White House gives any different guidance, payments resume on September 1. And we need to be telling borrowers how they can reach their servicers, how they can ask questions, what payment plans are available to them, and all that kind of communication needs to happen."

But Politico recently revealed that while Biden may not have made his final decision on relief, the Education Department is ready to go once he does. According to internal memos Politico obtained, the department has plans to implement loan forgiveness within months after Biden makes his announcement. Borrowers with income information readily available can expect quick relief, while others will be able to apply online to self-certify their income. 

Still, department officials told Politico that nothing is final yet, and some advocates are using the opportunity to push Biden one last time to make loan forgiveness as expansive as possible. NAACP President Derrick Johnson wrote to Biden last week, urging him to cancel at least $50,000 in student debt without any income caps.

"The American people are anxious. Voters are anxious. Your base is anxious," Johnson wrote. "Extending the freeze will only extend the anxiety that millions of Americans feel."