What You Need To Know About Income-Based Loan Repayment & COVID-19

 

Trumps’ executive memorandums from August 8th included the deferring of student loan payments and interest on payments until 2021. Additionally, the order suggested against the garnishment of wages and proposed that all deferred payments should still count toward requirements for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, officially implemented the extension of the student loan moratorium later that month.  What This Means For Income-Driven Repayment Plans  Borrowers who work full-time for qualifying employers will still have all non-payments during the loan suspension period counted towards those required for forgiveness under some income-driven repayment plans.  All borrowers have the option to continue paying off loans at full price or via partial payments, should they choose to do so. Lastly, if you are not currently enrolled in an income-based repayment plan, you can apply at any time.   What Steps You Should Take Next  Nothing to do right now for borrowers with any federally-held student loans. All payments and interest rates have been automatically suspended.   Visit the Federal Student Aid website for a full list of loan FAQs and to see what income-driven repayment plan works best for you. Questions? Give us a call at 631-864-3688 to stay current.

When it comes to paying for college, the first place to always start is the FAFSA form. The FAFSA form is the gateway to accessing federal grants, scholarships, federal direct loans, and the federal work-study program. In my state of New York, the FAFSA needs to be completed before the New York State tuition assistance program (TAP) and the New York State Excelsior Scholarship can be applied for.

The FAFSA form opens October 1st for the 2021-2022 academic year. Remember, dependent students will need to create a student FSA ID and a separate FSA ID username and password for a parent. By doing this you will be able to submit the FAFSA electronically. Think of your FSA ID as the key to all the federal Department of Education sites which include the FAFSA form, federal direct loans, National Student Loan data base, etc.. In order to create your FSA ID username and password go to the following site: https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm