Your Federal Loan Repayment

Alanna Ritchie is a content writer for Debt.org, where she writes about personal finance and little smart ways to spend (and save) money. Alanna has an English degree from Rollins College. Join our Debt.org Google+ Community

As you fill out your intent to graduate forms and begin looking into the post-college future, your stomach might start to turn. You might start to panic and it may become difficult to breathe as you start imagining your monthly student loan payments. Stop, take a step back, BREATH, and let’s think about the situation.

But guess what? There’s good news!

Not only do you have a six month grace period after you leave school or drop below half-time attendance for your federal student loans, you also have numerous options for repayment plans. A grace period is a period of time after borrowers graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment where they are not required to make payments on certain federal student loans. Some federal student loans will accrue interest during the grace period, and if the interest is unpaid, it will be added to the principal balance of the loan when the repayment period begins. Repayment plans are designed to accommodate the needs of graduates entering the job market and receiving introductory salaries, while carrying the responsibility of handling additional bills, like rent, insurance, gas and groceries.

You do have options. If the standard ten-year plan with fixed payments is too much for you to handle, contact your lender to negotiate payments that match your budget. Not sure who your lender is? You can view all your federal loans and their lenders online from the National Student Loan Database.

Which Plan Meets Your Needs?

Federal student loans come with a variety of repayments plans that are offering based on requirements such as income, family size, or loan type. Examples of federal loans include Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans, which could be Subsidized Stafford loans, Unsubsidized Stafford loans, or PLUS loans. There are three main categories of repayment plans for you to consider.

First, the Graduated Repayment plan will allow you to begin making lower payments. Although, like the Standard plan, this plan must be completed in ten years, the lower payments gives you time to increase your salary. Every two years, your monthly payments will increase.

Second, if the Graduated plan is still more than you can afford, the Extended Plan allows you to take up to 25 years to repay loans. There is more flexibility with this option, as you can choose between a fixed or graduated payment.

Finally, there are four different repayment plans that consider your income as a factor. Some of these plans also consider factors like family size, spouse’s income, and total amount of loans. Although these have similar-sounding names, each has specific requirements and formulas which influence the monthly amount you will owe.

Four plans with income factors:

• Pay As Your Earn
• Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE)
• Income-Based Repayment
• Income-Contingent Repayment
• Income-Sensitive Repayment (FFEL Loans only)

Federal Loan Consolidation

While you are researching different payment cycles and methods, you may consider a Federal Loan Consolidation. A Federal Loan Consolidation allows you to merge all your Federal Student Loans into one loan. This can include your Subsidized Stafford Loan, Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, and Perkins loans. Once all your Federal Student Loans are merged into one loan, you will only have one monthly payment and one interest rate attributed to the loans. However, note that this will likely not reduce your overall interest rate since it is weighted by loan. As you can see, a Federal Consolidated Loan may allow for an easier way to manage monthly repayment.

How Can You Prepare Now?

Get in the habit of putting a portion of your paycheck in savings now, before you start paying back your loans. This will force you to make a budget and spend less every month, so when the time for repayment comes, it will be easier to part with this percentage of your paycheck.

The money you save up during your grace period can also be used as an emergency fund of accessible cash for unexpected situations. This cushion can enable you to afford your loan payments even when you have unexpected expenses such as a flat tire, broken arm or speeding ticket. Preparing yourself for the future can protect your loan debt from growing any larger.

Make sure your loan servicer has updated information, including your phone number and email. Your servicer will need this information in order to communicate any new information on your loans, including when your next bill is due.

Choosing a plan and taking a proactive approach with your finances can help you smoothly adjust into your repayment period.

Cost of Attendance: Explained

Whether you know it or not, there is a limit to how much financial aid you can receive in a year. This is reflected in your Cost of Attendance (COA), which is sometimes referred to as your “budget” when speaking to a financial aid counselor. It includes 1. Tuition & Fees; 2. Housing & food; 3. Travel; 4. Books/ Supplies; and 5. Miscellaneous (think laundry or other random expenses). Your COA is NOT what you are being billed, rather it is an estimate of the total cost of attending school for one year.

1. Tuition is the biggest variable between students when it comes to COA. The three different standard levels of tuition are based off of your residency as shown on the chart. This will also include your differential fees as well.

• Differential Fees are added tuition costs for certain colleges or with specific majors (Engineering, Krannert, Polytechnic, and Computer Science).
• Then, there are fees for classes like horseback riding, wine tasting, etc. While these are added to your bill like Differential Fees, they are not automatically added to your COA! The exception is the course fees for Aviation Tech majors.
• These Differential and Course Fees are the same for every student regardless of residency.

2. After Tuition & Fees, everything else other than Travel is the same for each student’s COA, regardless of their residency.

• Outside of tuition, your biggest expense is almost always going to be your housing and food.
• If you live on-campus or have a meal plan, this will be included in your bill from Purdue.
• However, if you live off-campus it will not be on your bill but will still be included in your COA.

Your COA says that on average you should be spending $10,030 combined for your housing and food costs. Depending on your situation this might be much higher than you actually need or it might not be enough.

• If you find that your housing and food costs will be significantly lower, consider borrowing less if you are taking out student loans.
• If it is much higher and you need financial aid to help, contact the Financial Aid office.

3. The travel portion of the budget is one that will end up extremely different from one student to the next. This is generally meant to be enough for a student to visit home twice throughout the year, but as you can bet the $370 is woefully inadequate for an International Student unless you’re driving to the closest areas in Canada from West Lafayette.

4. Books and Supplies attempts to estimate the costs for your textbooks and other supplies needed for the year (pens, folders, notebooks, etc.). You may also consider using this money in order to buy a computer for yourself in order to do your classwork. If this is the case and your current aid will not be enough to cover it you may consider contacting the Financial Aid office to help increase your budget.
5. The Miscellaneous category are all of the other incurred student costs that don’t fit neatly into the other categories. Costs like toiletries, laundry, clothes, and other personal expenses are included in this diverse category. Although they are smaller purchases, if they are unaccounted for, they can chip away at anyone’s budget.

If you feel like your Cost of Attendance is not representative of your costs of being a student at Purdue for a year and gives you too little room for aid, please contact our Financial Aid office. Conversely, if you find it is higher than you need and you are borrowing to help finance your education, seriously consider taking less in loans! Every dollar you don’t borrow is one you don’t have to pay back – with interest. You are also able to have allowances for child care or other dependent care and costs related to a disability, which is also added into your COA, but you must contact the Financial Aid office for assistance.

Keep in mind that if you increase your Cost of Attendance, that only increases how much aid you are eligible to receive! If you already have less aid than your COA, you probably won’t be getting more just by increasing it.

Financial Aid Contact Information:
Walk-in appointments in Schleman Hall room 305
Call-in at 765-494-5050
Both available from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST Monday through Friday.

FAFSA: Who, What, When, How & Why?

Getting you through FAFSA, one question at a time.

 

• Who

  • Who Should File a FAFSA?
    If you are interested in getting any Federal Financial Aid, including federal direct loans, you need to file the FAFSA at www.fafsa.gov/  to become eligible. Federal loans are almost always preferable to private loans.  In addition, many colleges’ need-based scholarships rely on FAFSA information to verify that you are eligible. In short, everyone should file the FAFSA – even if you don’t think you’ll qualify for any federal aid

   

  • Whose Information is Needed to File a FAFSA?
    This answer depends on if you are a dependent student or not. Unsure if you’re Dependent or Independent? Check here.(Note: this is not the same as being independent for tax filing)Dependent students: You need tax information for both you AND your parents. If your parents are divorced, you need the information on whoever you receive the most support (51%) from.

    Independent students: You only need your own information unless you are married. If so, you will need your spouse’s information as well.

• What

  • What is the FAFSA Anyway?
    The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

   

  • What Do I Need to Fill it out?
    You’ll need a computer, your school codes, and items on the FAFSA checklist.

   

  • What If Things Change After I File The FAFSA?
    If your family situation has a significant change after you’ve filed your FAFSA, and any time while you’re in school, stop by your Financial Aid office to see if you qualify for a “special circumstance”.  These could include job loss, divorce, death of a parent, child birth or other unexpected situations that impact your financial status.

   

  • What Types of Federal Financial Aid are there?
    There are three main types of financial aid:
    1. Grants — Federal Pell Grants do not have to be repaid and are sometimes referred to as “gift aid”.  Grants are similar to scholarships, except that they are often for those who demonstrate financial need, where scholarships can be either merit-based or need-based.2. Student Loans — This is the type you hear about most often.  Filling out the FAFSA is required to be eligible for Federal Direct loans.  Federal loans are almost always preferable to private loans from lending institutions, because they have fixed interest rates and flexible repayment options.3. Federal Work Study (FWS) — Work study may provide you with more opportunities to find on-campus jobs. Rather than being given the funds in the beginning of the semester like loans and grants, FWS earnings are distributed to you as part of your paycheck.

• Where

  • Where Do I Go to File the FAFSA?
    Always go to FAFSA.gov to file your FAFSA! There are some other websites that will fill it out and charge you a fee at the end. Filling out the FAFSA should always be free.

   

  • Where Do I Get the School Code and FSA ID?
    You’ll need the school code for whatever schools you are interested in applying to. They are available here. Your FSA ID is used to login and electronically sign your FAFSA.  Set it up at here.

   

  • Where Do I Get Help?
    College Goal Sunday will be held on Sunday, February 21^st at 2:00 p.m. in Indiana and it provides FREE FAFSA filing assistance. It is at Ivy Tech in West Lafayette, but to find a location near you in one of the participating 42 states, go to www.CollegeGoalSundayUsa.org.  You can always call the Financial Aid office of your prospective school to ask questions as well.

• When

  • When Can I start the FAFSA?
    You can begin the FAFSA any time after January 1^st of the year you plan to attend college.  The FAFSA uses the student/parent tax information from the previous year. You can estimate the required information to beat a college priority filing date, but the info must be corrected after the taxes are complete!

   

  • When is the FAFSA Due?
    If you are a Purdue student, the FAFSA priority filing date is March 1st, so be sure to have it done by then! Other colleges (and states) have their own priority dates. Check for deadlines here.

• How

  • How Do I Get my Financial Aid?
    Your financial aid is sent directly to your school and they will apply it directly toward your billing and send any excess aid to you to be used for books and other education related expenses. The exception is Work Study which needs to be earned by working, and is paid via a paycheck.

   

  • How Much is the Maximum That Can be Borrowed?
    Most students don’t know this, but there is a maximum amount of Federal Loans you can take out each year. There is also a maximum amount you can take throughout your college career! If you take the maximum amount for four years, there won’t be as much left for a fifth year if needed. Plan ahead!

    Remember: Everything you borrow you will have to pay back with interest for the next 10 (or more) years. For every $5,000 you borrow at 6% interest, you pay back $6,661.23 over 10 years ($55.51/ month)

  • 

    Chart courtesy of Penn State University

• Why

  • Why Should I Do a FAFSA?
    Other than qualifying for grants and Federal Loans? Many state grants and institutional scholarships require FAFSA information submitted. Even if you aren’t sure, it is always worth submitting!

Your Federal Loan Repayment

photo by: Debt.org

Alanna Ritchie is a content writer for Debt.org, where she writes about personal finance and little smart ways to spend (and save) money. Alanna has an English degree from Rollins College. Join our Debt.org Google+ Community

 

As you fill out your intent to graduate forms and begin looking into the post-college future, your stomach might start to turn. You might start to panic and it may become difficult to breathe as you start imagining your monthly student loan payments. Stop, take a step back, BREATH, and let’s think about the situation.

But guess what? There’s good news!

Not only do you have a six month grace period after you leave school or drop below half-time attendance for your federal student loans, you also have numerous options for repayment plans. A grace period is a period of time after borrowers graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment where they are not required to make payments on certain federal student loans. Some federal student loans will accrue interest during the grace period, and if the interest is unpaid, it will be added to the principal balance of the loan when the repayment period begins. Repayment plans are designed to accommodate the needs of graduates entering the job market and receiving introductory salaries, while carrying the responsibility of handling additional bills, like rent, insurance, gas and groceries.

You do have options. If the standard ten-year plan with fixed payments is too much for you to handle, contact your lender to negotiate payments that match your budget. Not sure who your lender is?  You can view all your federal loans and their lenders online from the National Student Loan Database.

Which Plan Meets Your Needs?

photo by Yesenia603

Federal student loans come with a variety of repayments plans that are offering based on requirements such as income, family size, or loan type. Examples of federal loans include Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans, which could be Subsidized Stafford loans, Unsubsidized Stafford loans, or PLUS loans. There are three main categories of repayment plans for you to consider.

First, the Graduated Repayment plan will allow you to begin making lower payments. Although, like the Standard plan, this plan must be completed in ten years, the lower payments gives you time to increase your salary. Every two years, your monthly payments will increase.

Second, if the Graduated plan is still more than you can afford, the Extended Plan allows you to take up to 25 years to repay loans. There is more flexibility with this option, as you can choose between a fixed or graduated payment.

Finally, there are four different repayment plans that consider your income as a factor. Some of these plans also consider factors like family size, spouse’s income, and total amount of loans. Although these have similar-sounding names, each has specific requirements and formulas which influence the monthly amount you will owe.

Four plans with income factors:

• Pay As Your Earn
• Income-Based Repayment
• Income-Contingent Repayment
• Income-Sensitive Repayment

Federal Loan Consolidation

While you are researching different payment cycles and methods, you should consider a Federal Loan Consolidation.  A Federal Loan Consolidation allows you to merge all your Federal Student Loans into one loan.  This can include your Subsidized Stafford Loan, Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, and Perkins loans.  Once all your Federal Student Loans are merged into one loan, you will only have one monthly payment and one interest rate attributed to the loans.  As you can see, a Federal Consolidated Loan allows for an easier way to manage monthly repayment.

How Can You Prepare Now?

Get in the habit of putting a portion of your paycheck in savings now, before you start paying back your loans. This will force you to make a budget and spend less every month, so when the time for repayment comes, it will be easier to part with this percentage of your paycheck.

The money you save up during your grace period can also be used as an emergency fund of accessible cash for unexpected situations. This cushion can enable you to afford your loan payments even when you have unexpected expenses such as a flat tire, broken arm or speeding ticket. Preparing yourself for the future can protect your loan debt from growing any larger.

Make sure your loan servicer has updated information, including your phone number and email. Your servicer will need this information in order to communicate any new information on your loans, including when your next bill is due.

Choosing a plan and taking a proactive approach with your finances can help you smoothly adjust into your repayment period.

Why You Shouldn’t Panic About Your Federal Student Loans

From WiseBread New Graduate Help Center: Reyna Gobel, Student Loans Expert

www.purdue.edu/mymoney

Photo By WiseBread

Dear Not-Yet-In-Trouble Federal Student Loan Borrower,

You might have heard that the Department of Education will be sending out letters to millions of student loans borrowers. The letters target borrowers whose grace periods are ending, as well as borrowers who exhibit signs of trouble that could lead to defaulting on their loans. If you haven’t started repayment yet but are fretting about how you’re going to possibly repay all that money — stop worrying.

I’m writing you this letter to not only give you important details about student loan repayment, but also to help you be aware of potential issues well before trouble starts.

I Defaulted — Here’s How to Avoid My Mistakes

I defaulted on a federal student loan simply because I didn’t know it existed. I had over a dozen student loans from different lenders; I forgot about one loan and went into default. It’s easy to do, but it’s also easy to avoid. Just log in to the National Student Loan Data System. You’ll see all your federal student loans on this site, along with contact information. Either arrange to pay each individually, or consolidate them into one loan. This is also a great time to get a free credit report – it can alert you to any problems you might have, like having missed a loan or bill payment.

Then, know yourself. If you can’t keep track of each individual loan, you really need to consolidate them into one loan to streamline payments (ask your loan servicer about consolidation options). Once consolidated, you can still choose a plan where payments are based on income, such as Pay as You Earn. And if you’re interested in the public service loan forgiveness program, know that it’s only available through loans originated by or consolidated with Federal Direct Loans.

Realize That Even With the Pay as You Earn Plan, You Might Have Payment Problems

The income-based Pay as You Earn repayment plan bases payments on your income and family size, but it doesn’t fully consider your expenses if your circumstances change. For example, at some point, you may have to help support a sick parent or child. You could also have bought a home when your income was higher. After a pay cut, a majority of your income could go towards your mortgage.

If you experience a financial setback, you have three options:

• Call your servicer and see if your Pay as You Earn payment amount can be adjusted. You have to supply your income annually, and you may have forgotten to do so this year, causing your payments to set based a higher income level.
• Ask for a deferment or forbearance, which are temporary payment breaks. Taking a break should only be done if the situation isn’t permanent. Always take a deferment when possible over a forbearance when any of your student loans are subsidized. The government pays the interest on subsidized student loans during periods of deferment.
• If your income is lower because you took family leave for six months, you may not want to change your plan. However, for long-term pay cuts where your income-based repayment is too high for your budget, you should ask your servicer to also calculate payment options and see which payment option offers the lowest monthly payment.

Don’t Feel Embarrassed If You Don’t Know Something About Student Loans

I wrote two editions of a 240-page book on student loans, and I still don’t know everything about them. I read articles and play with the student loan repayment calculators every day. There’s always something new to learn. For instance, the public service loan forgiveness employer verification form wasn’t created until after the first edition was released. Now, thanks to that form, you can find out if you qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program right away and register for it right after you start working or after you’ve already started repayment — the choice is up to you. Never be afraid to ask your servicer questions about any of these programs.

Talk to Your Friends Who Are or Will Be in Repayment Soon

I’m not the only person who has experience with and advice about student loans. Talking to your friends can help you figure out repayment options and possibly pick better ones based on their choices and experiences. Just remember, they might have different circumstances than you, such as income level, children, or other debt that impacted their choices. Therefore, you shouldn’t copy their decisions. But you’ll be more informed and learn questions to ask your servicer. Plus, they may have missed payments, recovered, and now have advice about that. Learn from others’ student loan mistakes and victories.

The Most Important Part of This Letter?

The help you get doesn’t end here. You can tweet me anytime — @ReynaGobel — and ask questions. My articles will be posted here every week. You can ask me questions in my CollegeWeekLive web chats or get more helpful advice in my book CliffsNotes Graduation Debt.

Finally, remember you never want to receive a “dear troubled borrower” letter. The second you think you might miss a payment, talk to your servicer about options for a payment break or new repayment plan. With federal student loans, that one call will likely save your credit.

 

Reyna Gobel is a writer, author, public speaker, and student loans expert.  Her financial advice appears on Wise Bread’s New Graduates Help Center, in her video course How to Repay Federal Student Loans, in CollegeWeekLive newsletters and keynotes speeches, and in her audiobook How Smart Students Pay for School, now in its second edition. Be sure to check out her website for more helpful information on repaying your student loans.

College Seniors Week 2: Paying Your Student Loans

Raysha Duncan, Financial Aid Administrator & Purdue Alumna
www.purdue.edu/mymoney

Yikes! This is a scary topic, especially with student loan debt being broadcasted all over the news. Student loan payments can seem overwhelming, especially if you’re still on the JOB HUNT.  I’ve gone ahead and summarized some important information to know about your loans as well as some really helpful links to help you through the repayment process.

Grace Periods

If you have Stafford Loans and have stayed enrolled at least half-time (6 credit hours for undergrads and 4 credit hours for grads) for your entire college career, you will have your full grace period of six months before you are expected to start paying on those loans. If you have a Subsidized Stafford Loan, depending on when you took out your loans, they may start to accrue interest during this grace period. Unsubsidized Stafford Loans have accrued the entire time you’ve had them and will continue to during your grace period and beyond until they are paid off.

Grace periods for Perkins Loans are nine months, as long as you have remained continuously enrolled at half-time status during your entire college career.

Grace periods for private loans vary per lender, so you will want to check with your loan servicer to determine when you are expected to start making payments on them.

 Interest Rates

Stafford Loan interest rates have been changing a lot recently; they’ve gone down this past year (2013-2014) thanks to Obama signing the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013. But, this also means you could have multiple Stafford Loans with different interest rates. You can log into your student loan account at the National Student Loan Database to check on your loans, their interest rates, and to see your loan servicer.
Perkins Loans have a 5% set interest rate.

Private Loans have variable or set interest rates, depending on your lender. You’ll want to check with the lender to see what your interest rate is currently and if it’s subject to change.

Repayment 

The biggest thing you need to know about your loans at this point? You need to repay them. I’d suggest starting at here. This website has a lot of helpful information:

–Repayment Options: the different types, and what applies to you

–Loan Consolidation: how to do it, can you do it

–Making Payments: where to go, who you pay

–Deferment & Forbearance: are you eligible, what to do

 

There’s a lot of information floating around about student loans these days, so set aside some time and actually do some research in figuring out what the best repayment options are for you. You have to pay them back, and you may be paying on them for the next few years, so you may as well know what’s expected of you.

Student Loan Repayment in the News This Week

Raysha Duncan, Financial Aid Administrator and Purdue Alumna
www.purdue.edu/mymoney

Student loans are all over the news right now. Why? May 2014 grads are rapidly approaching repayment for their student loans! How up-to-date on your loan information are you? (I only have 25 days left in my grace period for my loans! Eek!) Check out www.purdue.edu/loans for basic loan information. You should also log into your account on www.nslds.ed.gov for detailed information on your personal federal student loans.

Once you’ve been contacted by your loan servicer, make sure to create your online account so you can keep up with your loan balance and figure out when your first payment is due. Some servicers offer a reduced interest rate for qualifying borrowers if you set up automatic debit to make your monthly loan payments.

If you have private student loans, you’ll need to check in with your lender about your repayment schedule.

From the web this week:

The Washington Post, A guide to paying off your student loans

Look here for a quick breakdown of the basics. And be sure to check out the short video at the top of the article for a simplified explanation of the different payment plans.

Forbes, What the Sallie Mae Company Split Means for Student Loan Borrowers

Have you gotten an email from Navient recently? (I have!) Sallie Mae created this company to handle their portion of the federal student loan accounts and some of their private loan accounts. In this article, Reyna Gobel explains how this split affects borrowers.

U.S. News, Know When it Makes Sense to Consolidate Student Loans

Considering loan consolidation? Read this first to see if that’s the best strategy for you.

 

MyMoney Powered by Purdue Articles on Student Loans:

Why You Shouldn’t Panic About Your Federal Student Loans by Reyna Gobel

25% Fed Student Loan Borrowers Qualify for Loan Forgiveness – Do You? by Reyna Gobel

The Definitive Guide to Pay As You Earn – A Federal Student Loan Repayment Plan by Reyna Gobel

College Seniors Week 2: Paying Your Loans by Raysha Duncan

Downside of Student Loan Default by Brandon Endsley

Five Tips for Debt Reduction After Graduation by Julie Huser

The Definitive Guide to Pay As You Earn — A Federal Student Loan Repayment Plan

From WiseBread New Graduate Help Center: Reyna Gobel, Student Loans Expert

Photo By WiseBread

In the past few years, the federal government introduced several new student loan payback plans that base payment amounts on borrowers’ income, aimed at helping these borrowers pay back their loans without being crushed by debt. Perhaps the most enticing of these is the Pay As You Earn plan, which, for many borrowers, provides the lowest monthly payments of any plan — and, if you qualify, you can even have the remainder of your loans forgiven after 20 years.

There are some criteria for qualifying. Unlike the other income-sensitive plans, Pay As You Earn borrowers had to be student-loan free as of October 1, 2007 and had disbursement of loans on or after October 1, 2011. You also have to demonstrate a “partial financial hardship” — but, as you’ll learn below, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t qualify for Pay As You Earn if you have a job — even a high-paying one.

Read on to learn about the pros and cons of the plan, discover if it’s right for you, and find out how to apply.

• What is Pay As You Earn?
• Benefits of Pay As You Earn
• How to Figure Out if Pay As You Earn Works For You
• Estimating Your Payments and How to Apply
• Pros to Pay As You Earn
• Cons to Pay As You Earn
• How Pay As You Earn Compares to Other Repayment Plans That Consider Income
• What You Should Know After You’ve Signed Up for Pay As You Earn

What Is Pay As You Earn?

Pay As You Earn is a federal student loan repayment plan that reduces your federal student loan payments based on financial hardship. The plan was developed as a way to help those struggling with sizeable student loan payments, and it went into effect December 21, 2012.

Benefits of Pay As You Earn

There are several benefits to the Pay As You Earn repayment plan.

How Much You Pay

For many people with federal student loans, Pay As You Earn is the payment plan with the lowest monthly payments. When you’re on this plan, your payments are calculated as 10% of your discretionary income divided by 12. (More on how that discretionary income is calculated a bit later.)

Interest Subsidies and Capitalization Breaks

In addition to lowering your monthly payments, the Pay As You Earn plan also has other benefits. First of all, if you had subsidized federal loans (the kind where the government pays your loan interest for you when you’re in school), for the first three years that you’re on the Pay As You Earn plan, the government will continue providing an interest subsidy. They won’t pay for all of your interest, but if the amount you pay each month doesn’t cover all of the interest your loans are earning, the federal government will pay any leftover interest.

Also, according to the government, when you have a partial financial hardship, “…interest that accrues but is not covered by your loan payments will not be capitalized, even if interest accrues during a deferment or forbearance.” Basically, this means that any interest accrued will not be added to the principal of the loan, and thus you won’t be charged interest on the interest. And, furthermore, “the total amount of interest that capitalizes while you are repaying your loans under the Pay As You Earn plan is limited to 10% of your original principal balance when you begin paying under Pay As You Earn.”

Loan Forgiveness

If you always pay in full and on time and have a partial financial hardship every year, you can have the balance of your loan forgiven after 20 years. And if you work full-time in public service, you may qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, where the balance of your loans can be forgiven after just 10 years.

How to Figure Out if Pay As You Earn Works for You

Unfortunately, not everyone can use the Pay As You Earn plan. Here’s how to figure out if you qualify.

Do You Demonstrate a “Partial Financial Hardship”?

In order to qualify for Pay As You Earn, you need to have what the federal government calls a “partial financial hardship.” The Office of Federal Student Aid defines this as:

You have a partial financial hardship if the monthly amount you would be required to pay on your eligible federal student loans under a 10-year Standard Repayment Plan is higher than the monthly amount you would be required to repay under Pay As You Earn.

That definition doesn’t really say anything about what the payment would be. So, let’s dig a little deeper.

As I mentioned earlier, Pay As You Earn is 10% of your discretionary income. You might be familiar with the idea of “discretionary income” as the money you have leftover when you’re done paying your monthly bills. In the case of Pay As You Earn, it’s a similar concept, but the government calculates your discretionary income as your income minus 150% of the poverty guidelines for your family size.

Even if you think you might not qualify by reading that definition, you might — because your debt-to-income ratio also matters. For example, if you make $100,000 a year but owe $200,000 in loans, you can qualify for income-based repayment.

The best way to figure out if your income and debt-to-income ratio allow to apply for the plan is to plug your information into this calculator.

Do You Have the Right Kind of Loans?

Like all federal loan repayment plans, this program only applies to federal student loans. Specifically:

• Direct Subsidized Loans
• Direct Unsubsidized Loans
• Direct PLUS Loans made to graduate or professional students
• Direct Consolidation Loans without underlying PLUS loans made to parents

And the following loans cannot be repaid with the Pay As You Earn plan:

• Direct PLUS Loans made to parents
• Direct Consolidation Loans that repaid PLUS loans (Direct or FFEL) made to parents
• FFEL Program loans
• Private education loans

An additional note on FFEL loans — if you have FFEL loans, which are provided through a federal program but by private banks, the loans cannot be paid back with the Pay As You Earn program. But if you also have Direct Loans you’d like to use the Pay As You Earn plan for, the amount of your FFEL loans can be taken into account when figuring out if you have a partial financial hardship. Moreover, FFEL loans can be consolidated with direct loans. When this happens, the new combined direct loan can be repaid under Pay As You Earn (provided the underlying FFEL and direct loans were disbursed on or after October 1, 2007).

Did You Get Your Loans During the Right Time Period?

In addition to the above criteria, your loans also have to fall within specific time constraints. You must:

• Be a new borrower (i.e., have no outstanding student loan balances) as of October 1, 2007
• Have received loan disbursement on or after October 1, 2011 (meaning that your loan funds were provided to your school on or after that date)

Are Your Loans Properly Consolidated?

If you consolidated loans that do qualify with Parent PLUS loans, which don’t, this consolidated loan is not eligible for the Pay As You Earn plan.

Estimating Your Payments and Applying

If you fit all of the criteria listed above, visit the Office of Federal Student Aid’s Pay As You Earn payment calculator to find out how much you would owe each month. Then, if you have any questions before signing up, contact your student loan servicer. Finally, when you’re ready to apply, you can do so by logging in at studentloans.gov.

Pros to Pay As You Earn

To recap what we’ve discussed so far, if you qualify, there are several great reasons to consider the Pay As You Earn plan:

• Depending on your income, your payments might be less than any other payment plan — and, at the very least, they’ll never be more than they would be on the standard 10-year repayment plan.
• You can have the remainder of your loan forgiven after 20 years of on-time payments, or after 10 years with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
• If you have a subsidized loan, you will continue to get interest subsidies for three years if your monthly payments do not cover all of the interest you owe.

Cons to Pay As You Earn

There are some downsides to the plan.

• Pay As You Earn won’t work for everyone. If you can’t demonstrate a partial financial hardship as defined by the Office of Federal Student Aid, you can’t qualify.
• You have to provide updated income and family size information every year to confirm that you still demonstrate a partial financial hardship.
• If you no longer demonstrate a partial financial hardship, you can choose the standard repayment plan and still potentially qualify for some loan forgiveness if you still have a balance after 20 years of combined Pay As You Earn and standard payments.
• Even if your loan is forgiven after 20 years, you may have to pay taxes on the amount that was forgiven. At this time, it is unclear whether or not congress will create an exception to this before any borrower has to pay these taxes.
• Since paying less per month could mean you’ll extend the life of the loan, you could also owe more in interest. If you continue to qualify for Pay As You Earn, this is not a problem. But if you reach a point where you don’t qualify, your interest will capitalize, and you could end up paying more overall than you would with a standard repayment plan.

About that last point – here’s an example of what I mean. Say that borrower named Joanne has $30,000 of unsubsidized student loan debt with an interest rate of 6.8%. Her income for the first three years out of college helps her qualify for a Pay As You Earn payment of $60 a month, which doesn’t even cover interest. Since she doesn’t have subsidized loans, the government doesn’t pay the additional interest, and she still has her $30,000 student loan debt left. Now, in addition to that initial debt, she has to pay another approximately another $3,000 in interest accumulated. If her income increases enough, she will never be able to have loan forgiveness, because she’ll pay off her loan well before 20 years.

How Pay As You Earn Compares to Other Repayment Plans That Consider Income

Pay As You Earn isn’t the only option for paying back your student loans. There are also other income-related plans to consider. One of the biggest differences with all of these plans is that, while you’ll almost certainly pay less on Pay As You Earn, these plans work for loans no matter when you got them. So, for example, if you received disbursement of loans before October 1, 2011, those loans would not qualify for Pay As You Earn, but could qualify for the plans below.

Income-Based Repayment (IBR)

Under IBR, you also need to demonstrate a partial financial hardship. Your payments are locked in as 15% of your discretionary income (compared to Pay As You Earn’s 10%), and you can qualify for loan forgiveness after 25 years.

Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)

Payments under ICR are based on your gross annual income, family size, and loan amount; and they change accordingly each year. Loan forgiveness is available after 25 years.

Income-Sensitive Repayment (ISR)

In this plan, your loan amount is based on your income. The plan is only available for 10 years, and there is no loan forgiveness.

What You Should Know After You’ve Signed Up for Pay As You Earn

There are a few things to be aware of after you’ve signed up for Pay As You Earn.

You Must Make Your Payments Every Month and on Time

If not, you risk defaulting and not being eligible for loan forgiveness.

You Have to Reapply Every Year

And, if you no longer demonstrate partial financial hardship, your monthly payment will change to a “standard” payment amount.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions, ask your loan servicer, or feel free to get in touch with me — I’m only a tweet away at @reynagobel.

 

Reyna Gobel is a writer, author, public speaker, and student loans expert.  Her financial advice appears on Wise Bread’s New Graduates Help Center, in her video course How to Repay Federal Student Loans, in CollegeWeekLive newsletters and keynotes speeches, and in her audiobook How Smart Students Pay for School, now in its second edition. Be sure to check out her website for more helpful information on repaying your student loans.

Why You Shouldn’t Panic About Your Federal Student Loans

From WiseBread New Graduate Help Center: Reyna Gobel, Student Loans Expert

Photo By WiseBread

Dear Not-Yet-In-Trouble Federal Student Loan Borrower,

You might have heard that the Department of Education will be sending out letters to millions of student loans borrowers. The letters target borrowers whose grace periods are ending, as well as borrowers who exhibit signs of trouble that could lead to defaulting on their loans. If you haven’t started repayment yet but are fretting about how you’re going to possibly repay all that money — stop worrying.

I’m writing you this letter to not only give you important details about student loan repayment, but also to help you be aware of potential issues well before trouble starts.

I Defaulted — Here’s How to Avoid My Mistakes

I defaulted on a federal student loan simply because I didn’t know it existed. I had over a dozen student loans from different lenders; I forgot about one loan and went into default. It’s easy to do, but it’s also easy to avoid. Just log in to the National Student Loan Data System. You’ll see all your federal student loans on this site, along with contact information. Either arrange to pay each individually, or consolidate them into one loan. This is also a great time to get a free credit report – it can alert you to any problems you might have, like having missed a loan or bill payment.

Then, know yourself. If you can’t keep track of each individual loan, you really need to consolidate them into one loan to streamline payments (ask your loan servicer about consolidation options). Once consolidated, you can still choose a plan where payments are based on income, such as Pay as You Earn. And if you’re interested in the public service loan forgiveness program, know that it’s only available through loans originated by or consolidated with Federal Direct Loans.

Realize That Even With the Pay as You Earn Plan, You Might Have Payment Problems

The income-based Pay as You Earn repayment plan bases payments on your income and family size, but it doesn’t fully consider your expenses if your circumstances change. For example, at some point, you may have to help support a sick parent or child. You could also have bought a home when your income was higher. After a pay cut, a majority of your income could go towards your mortgage.

If you experience a financial setback, you have three options:

• Call your servicer and see if your Pay as You Earn payment amount can be adjusted. You have to supply your income annually, and you may have forgotten to do so this year, causing your payments to set based a higher income level.
• Ask for a deferment or forbearance, which are temporary payment breaks. Taking a break should only be done if the situation isn’t permanent. Always take a deferment when possible over a forbearance when any of your student loans are subsidized. The government pays the interest on subsidized student loans during periods of deferment.
• If your income is lower because you took family leave for six months, you may not want to change your plan. However, for long-term pay cuts where your income-based repayment is too high for your budget, you should ask your servicer to also calculate payment options and see which payment option offers the lowest monthly payment.

Don’t Feel Embarrassed If You Don’t Know Something About Student Loans

I wrote two editions of a 240-page book on student loans, and I still don’t know everything about them. I read articles and play with the student loan repayment calculators every day. There’s always something new to learn. For instance, the public service loan forgiveness employer verification form wasn’t created until after the first edition was released. Now, thanks to that form, you can find out if you qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program right away and register for it right after you start working or after you’ve already started repayment — the choice is up to you. Never be afraid to ask your servicer questions about any of these programs.

Talk to Your Friends Who Are or Will Be in Repayment Soon

I’m not the only person who has experience with and advice about student loans. Talking to your friends can help you figure out repayment options and possibly pick better ones based on their choices and experiences. Just remember, they might have different circumstances than you, such as income level, children, or other debt that impacted their choices. Therefore, you shouldn’t copy their decisions. But you’ll be more informed and learn questions to ask your servicer. Plus, they may have missed payments, recovered, and now have advice about that. Learn from others’ student loan mistakes and victories.

The Most Important Part of This Letter?

The help you get doesn’t end here. You can tweet me anytime — @ReynaGobel — and ask questions. My articles will be posted here every week. You can ask me questions in my CollegeWeekLive web chats or get more helpful advice in my book CliffsNotes Graduation Debt.

Finally, remember you never want to receive a “dear troubled borrower” letter. The second you think you might miss a payment, talk to your servicer about options for a payment break or new repayment plan. With federal student loans, that one call will likely save your credit.

 

Reyna Gobel is a writer, author, public speaker, and student loans expert.  Her financial advice appears on Wise Bread’s New Graduates Help Center, in her video course How to Repay Federal Student Loans, in CollegeWeekLive newsletters and keynotes speeches, and in her audiobook How Smart Students Pay for School, now in its second edition. Be sure to check out her website for more helpful information on repaying your student loans.

College Seniors Week 2: Paying Your Loans

Raysha Duncan Purdue University Student and Peer Counselor

GIF from: compliancex.com

Yikes! This is a scary topic, especially with student loan debt being broadcasted all over the news. Student loan payments can seem overwhelming, especially if you’re still on the JOB HUNT.  I’ve gone ahead and summarized some important information to know about your loans as well as some really helpful links to help you through the repayment process.

 

Grace Periods

If you have Stafford Loans and have stayed enrolled at least half-time (6 credit hours for undergrads and 4 credit hours for grads) for your entire college career, you will have your full grace period of six months before you are expected to start paying on those loans. If you have a Subsidized Stafford Loan, depending on when you took out your loans, they may start to accrue interest during this grace period. Unsubsidized Stafford Loans have accrued the entire time you’ve had them and will continue to during your grace period and beyond until they are paid off.

Grace periods for Perkins Loans are nine months, as long as you have remained continuously enrolled at half-time status during your entire college career.

Grace periods for private loans vary per lender, so you will want to check with your loan servicer to determine when you are expected to start making payments on them.

 Interest Rates

Stafford Loan interest rates have been changing a lot recently; they’ve gone down this past year (2013-2014) thanks to Obama signing the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013. But, this also means you could have multiple Stafford Loans with different interest rates. You can log into your student loan account at the National Student Loan Database to check on your loans, their interest rates, and to see your loan servicer.
Perkins Loans have a 5% set interest rate.

 

Private Loans have variable or set interest rates, depending on your lender. You’ll want to check with the lender to see what your interest rate is currently and if it’s subject to change.

 

Repayment 

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Frankie J. Colbry

The biggest thing you need to know about your loans at this point? You need to repay them. I’d suggest starting at here. This website has a lot of helpful information:

–Repayment Options: the different types, and what applies to you

–Loan Consolidation: how to do it, can you do it

–Making Payments: where to go, who you pay

–Deferment & Forbearance: are you eligible, what to do

 

There’s a lot of information floating around about student loans these days, so set aside some time and actually do some research in figuring out what the best repayment options are for you. You have to pay them back, and you may be paying on them for the next few years, so you may as well know what’s expected of you.