KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Through the COVID-19 pandemic, student loan borrowers didn’t have to pay off their federal loans. That all is about to change.
Friday, Sept. 1, interest starts accruing again on federal student loans. Payments are due starting in October.
Jason Anderson with GradMetrics says now is the time to be proactive.
"No one's been making payments for two and a half years so you can imagine we have a lot of folks that haven't made payments. They've reallocated that money towards other things and now they have to carve it back out,” Anderson said.
He said to log back in sooner rather than later to update your information with the Department of Education and find out what you owe.
KSHB 41 News spoke with people impacted by loan repayment starting back up.
Ally Fields is a public school teacher who graduated from the University of Central Missouri in 2021. She says she wasn’t paying during the pandemic in hopes of loan forgiveness.
“I think I'll be able to make a plan so hopefully before the interest starts accumulating I'll be able to get back in gear, but I'm lucky to have a stable job right now so being able to pay them consistently is something I know I'll be able to do,” Fields said.
UMKC graduate students won’t have to pay for another couple of years, but payments starting back up have brought their loans to the front of their minds.
"I'm trying to like make small payments on my student loans. So it accrues less interest over time. Because like you were taking out like $40,000 in loans, but you have to pay $65,000 By the time you graduate,” said Megan Hickey, a UMKC social services graduate student.
"I am hoping to use a public service loan forgiveness program that says if I work in public service for 10 years, I will be able to get all my debts wiped after 10 years,” said Julia Howell, a third year UMKC law student.
"I'm fortunate enough to be married. And so I've tried to take out less loans, since I have my husband to support me and to pay for our house and things like that. But I've still had to take out quite a bit for tuition and fees and my books,” said Gabby Thurn, a first year UMKC Law Student.
The Biden Administration’s original student loan forgiveness plan was struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. Now, the administration has introduced the SAVE plan. You can learn more here.
