The Department of Education has extended the deadline to sign up for its Fresh Start program to Wednesday, October 2 at 3:00 a.m. ET. Applicants who sign up for Fresh Start will be eligible to return to good standing on their loans.

US Department of Education deputy assistant secretary Rich Williams joins Wealth! to break down the options available to student loan borrowers.

"Fresh Start is a one-time temporary initiative from the Department of Education that has already been helping 7.5 million borrowers with defaulted loans, protecting them against collection efforts and negative credit reporting. This program has been really successful, and over the last few days we've had really high interest from thousands of borrowers to enroll. And because there's so much interest, we want to make sure that all borrowers who are interested in taking advantage of these benefits long term to exit default and return to good standing, have that opportunity to do so," Williams tells Yahoo Finance.

In addition to the Fresh Start program, Williams notes that the Biden-Harris administration has rolled out a number of efforts to help borrowers return to good standing and make payments on their student loans. He highlights the on-ramp program which allows borrowers to make payments that they can afford. In addition, the SAVE plan helps borrowers come up with payment plan based on their income and family size.

For borrowers who want to take advantage of the Fresh Start program or any other student loan programs, Williams encourages them to enroll online through studentaid.gov.

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl