Many students don’t know that much about student loans, especially when it comes to their own. And that, according to Michael Ice, finance instructor within the College of Business at the University of Rhode Island, is a problem.
“The money is easy to take,” Ice said. “It’s almost too easy to get student loans.”
Though student loans are necessary for most students to attend college and have the cheapest debt (lowest interest rate) available, they can also be very problematic. Paying bills and student loans are not very fun, though, so many people try to find other ways to get rid of their loans or merely prolong the inevitable. Many students don’t have much credit and use instant bad credit loan‘s.
Deferral is an option many people need to take in order to find the means and money necessary to begin paying off all their debt. But Ice warns students to be cautious of that route.
“You can get deferral reasonably easy but you’re still going to have to pay it back… probably penalty fees as well,” Ice said. He added that student loans are not like regular loans, as they are incredibly difficult to have forgiven. You can declare bankruptcy and you still will not be forgiven for your student loans. There’s a special process to be forgiven, but that can be very difficult to demonstrate that you will never have the means to pay back your loans.
Loan forgiveness is what most people want. According to the Federal Student Aid in the Department of Education, some people are eligible “to receive loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program” if they are employed by a government or not-for-profit organization. The PLSF Program will forgive the remaining balance on your Direct Loans only “after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.” Such employments include government organizations, not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or other types of nonprofits that provide certain types of qualifying public services.
Not only are the requirements to receive loan forgiveness very hard, but you also need to wait until you’ve paid back your loans for at least 10 years before the rest of them can be forgiven, according to Ice.
As far as loans themselves go, many people do not know what they actually mean. First, students need to be aware of what type of loan they are receiving. Subsidized loans are better than unsubsidized loans in that they do not accrue interest while studying like unsubsidized loans do. Both loans are in deferment until after a grace period of about six months from when the student has graduated or left school.
The best loans to get are federal student loans, as these are the loans that are subsidized and where the money comes from the federal government. “The government can borrow money cheaper than anybody and at unlimited proportions,” Ice said. “so they, by definition, should give you the cheapest rate.”
Other loans will come from state government or private banks. Â These loans have interest rates which are much higher than the federal student loans.
The most important advice that Ice said he can give graduating seniors is to get organized.
“I would say you need to…figure out exactly what debts you need to pay, how much your monthly payments are going to be, and factor that into whatever decisions you make when you come out,” he said.
Organization is key when figuring out your loans because as of right now there are four different servicers who are in control of the money you borrowed, according to Ice. That means that you will have four different places to pay back for the student loans you took out. Students need to be aware of whom exactly they owe, how much they owe and make sure they stay in contact with those servicers.
Making sure your contact information is up to date is important as well. Students don’t want to find out that they owe more than they had originally figured, in which case there are penalty fees on top of that because their address was wrong.
While the future for many graduating seniors is uncertain, paying back student loans is definite.
If you are a student and have troubles with your loan, we recommend you to get consolation from experts in Student Loan Forgiveness Cherry Hill.