FYI – this message is in SMT for all of our students. Please see below this original message for additional details that may be relevant to you or someone you know.
Welcome back – or welcome, for our new students! – for the Fall 2023 semester! With all the excitement of a new semester, this is a reminder regarding the end of the Student Loan Payment Pause.
After years of the Federal Loan Payment Pause due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, no more extensions have been approved and this program is coming to an end. Interest on already disbursed unsubsidized federal loans will resume on September 1st.
If you haven’t yet, we highly recommend that you connect with your Loan Servicer – that way you can review your loans, ensure they have your correct contact information, and you know what repayment plan you’re currently enrolled in as well as what your payments will be each month. Your loan servicer may have changed as well – you can find all of this information through Federal Student Aid. **For any brand new college students or borrowers for Fall 2023 – we have not yet disbursed any loans for the 23-24 school year. Once the fall disbursement is made, you’ll be able to access your federal loan information through FSA.**
For many students, interest accrual on their Federal Loans may be difficult to adjust to – especially for those who have been under the Pause the entirety of their enrollment. We urge you to plan ahead if you have not already done so and contact your Loan Servicer. Be wary of any organization that solicits you or wants you to pay a fee for its services in assisting you in understanding or setting up your federal loan payments.
**Additional information for those no longer enrolled:
Interest on these federal loans will resume on September 1st, and payments will begin in October of 2023.
You may want to see if you qualify for Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). PSLF does require enrollment in certain repayment plans – and even if you’re not eligible for PSLF, there are a variety of repayment options. To find out which option might be best for you, check out the Loan Simulator.
For students who graduated amid the pandemic, their grace period on interest and repayment began immediately once they were no longer enrolled and those maximum six months were over, they entered into the ‘payment pause’. Those students do not have an additional six-month grace period once repayment resumes.
Finally, don’t forget that if you were in default on your federal loans going into the pandemic and subsequent pause, you could qualify for Fresh Start. Fresh Start is a one time, temporary program to restore benefits and get out of default.
