HELENA — Whether you are graduating within the next couple of weeks or graduated years ago, chances are you will soon have to start repaying your federal student loans.
"Sometimes I have students who think they know exactly what they need to do, and when we sit down and have a conversation – next thing you know, they're taking notes," said Carol Will, associate director of financial aid at Carroll College.
According to the United States Department of Education, "42.7 million borrowers owe more than $1.6 trillion in student debt."
On Monday, May 5th, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) "will resume collections of its defaulted federal student loan portfolio."
The Department of Education says, "All borrowers in default will receive email communications from FSA over the next 2 weeks making them aware of these developments."
Will says if graduates make no effort to repay their student loans in 270 days, they will default, which can come with long-term impacts.
"It's very serious," she said, "They're expected to pay 100% of their loans back immediately plus late fees [and] interest, their wages will be garnished, they could lose their federal rights to be able to borrow more student aid if they want to go to grad school."
If you are concerned about how your student loans will be impacted, Will says to start by visiting studentaid.gov to see what loans and interest you currently have and work through the loan simulator to see what different repayment plans could look like.
She also recommends starting on payments as soon as you graduate, focusing on tackling the subsidized interest.
"I've been telling students that it's very important that they take screenshots of their Federal Student Aid [and] document what they owe," said Will. "This way, they can check with their studentaid.gov account [and] with their servicer because if there are any discrepancies, then they would be aware of that."
Will says to contact your servicer with concerns, and you can change your repayment plan at no cost.
