How the Student Loan Repayment Pause Increased Latinx Borrowers’ Agency and Diversified Their Spectrum of Emotions

The coronavirus pandemic drastically reshaped how much of society functioned. Most of these changes were unfortunate in some way, but one change welcomed by many was the student loan repayment pause. This pause was enacted as relief given the pandemic’s effects on the economy and people’s financial standing. Approximately 35 million borrowers qualified and received, at least temporarily, not only some financial but also emotional respite from the heavy burden of debt. How was the repayment pause received emotionally by Latinx millennial borrowers? How did these borrowers feel before and then during the pause? Drawing on interviews from two waves of data collection—one in 2018 and another in 2022—the authors found an increased sense of agency among borrowers as well as an expanded spectrum of emotions, ranging from positive feelings of optimism to a more critical analysis of the student loan system during the repayment pause.