After a three and a half year pause, federal student loans started accruing interest again on Sept. 1 for millions of borrowers, and repayments will be due in October.
According to Betsy Mayotte, founder of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors, borrowers may now struggle to fit that payment back into their budgets for a variety of reasons. “The economy is different than it was three and a half years ago. Things like lettuce and rent are a lot more expensive,” she said.
She recommends setting a budget and checking the http://studentaid.gov website to see what repayment plan is available to fit that budget. There are tools like the loan simulator and repayment calculator that can show you how much you can pay and when.
“The No. 1 commandment with student loans is, thou shall pay the least amount over time,” Mayotte said.
This post was produced and edited by Casey Kuhn, Julia Griffin and Yasmeen Alamiri.
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