Student Loan Payment Pause Coming to an End

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - Current college students and alumni will have to pay their federal student loan again.

The pause on student loan payments is coming to end on Friday.

For more than three years, federal student loan borrowers have not had to make monthly payments but now that has come to an end.

Current college students and alumni are now potentially facing a financial shock.

The first payment is due October first.

“Anytime you have to restart, paying for something is a big adjustment. we hope that people who have loan debt will take care that they won’t go into default.” said UTPB Senior Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Becky Spurlock.

About forty-four million Americans were affected by the loan payment pause.

There are options for students to be prepared to pay their student loan debt.

“Students can log-in to student-aid.gov and see who their lenders are and they can log in to their lenders website and they can see how much their payments is going to be. If they are not income driven enrollment plan they can sign up for one.” said UTPB Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management and Director of Financial Aid Scott Lapinski.

Income driven enrollment plan is based on your income and family size.

There is also another option that temporarily lowers or pauses payments for students.

“If they are not ready to start their repayments they can sign up and get a forbearance on their loans for a year so they can be better prepared.” said Lapinski.

The good news is part time students are able to defer their loans.

The bad news is that it is difficult for people who want to return back to school.

“It could prevent somebody who are thinking returning back to school and now have additional payments. In that scenario I want to make people know that especially at UTPB we have a lot of options to help them cover their current cost.” said Spurlock.

The Biden administration extended the pause for the eighth time last November but will not do so again as part of the bi partisan debt ceiling deal approved by congress.

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