JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — You may have less money today than yesterday.
Federal student loan payments are now back for more than 40 million people and many tell First Coast News you're reassessing your budgets. One in five borrowers may now be struggling financially because of the return of the payments, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Borrowers say the rollercoaster ride of what might happen with the president's student loan forgiveness plan did not end up where they wanted when the Supreme Court struck it down this summer. First Coast News spoke with one Jacksonville woman who says she has come out of retirement in order to pay her student loans.
Education advocates say student loan payments may be hardest for recent graduates like Austin Belet, who graduated from the University of North Florida in 2021.
"It kind of feels jarring, almost," Belet said about the return of the payments. "If it weren't for the fact that I've recently gotten a job and if it had started about two months ago, that would have been another extra dollars that I couldn't have really catered to yet."
A more than $400 a month student loan bill is why Riva Newton says she's had to come out of retirement, something she told First Coast News this summer she'd looked forward to.
"I've dreamed of that day," Newton said. "That I could retire and enjoy my family."
Here are four tips to save money:
- Use the “loan simulator” on StudentAid.gov to help determine your monthly payment.
- If you sign up for automatic payments, the servicer takes a quarter of a percent off your interest rate.
- If you work in public service, like teaching, you may qualify to have your loan forgiven after a certain number of years of payments.
- Due to a year-long grace period, right now if you miss a payment, you won't be at risk of default and your credit score won't be hurt. Interest will still accrue.
Make sure all of your personal information is up to date on StudentAid.gov and watch out for scams. Only the U.S. Department of Education can lower the amount you pay on federal student loans.
Restaurant workers are taking on more shifts and more new workers are available due to the return of student loan payments, according to a new Federal Reserve report. The report also notes there's concern the payments will make it more difficult for some people to afford to buy a home.