When it comes to federal student loans, repayment options are expanding and becoming more generous, but there’s still a “long way to go” when it comes to making sure students know about all the repayment plans at their disposal.
That’s one of the key points that a student debt expert raised Wednesday during a webinar, titled “What’s the Price?: ‘Pay As You Earn’ and Income-Based Repayment.”
“The really, really good news is there’s now more than one way to pay your loans back based on what you earn,” said Lauren Asher, president of The Institute for College Access & Success, or TICAS, a California-based nonprofit that does research and advocacy on issues of college affordability.
“And there’s light at the end of the tunnel after a certain amount of time,” Asher said in reference to loan forgiveness that can be obtained after different periods of time under the various repayment plans for federal student loans.
“It’s very easy now to apply for these plans,” Asher continued, referring to a website called studentloans.gov, which enables students to apply for a more practical repayment plan, based on their respective incomes. Visitors to the website should search for the “Repayment Plan Request” option on the left side of the homepage.
“And you don’t have to know which ones you qualify for,” she said.
The repayment plans discussed Wednesday were:
