By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Those who took out federal loans to pay for college will have to begin repaying them once again next month.
The forbearance period that began during the coronavirus pandemic is coming to an end. As federal student loan borrowers prepare to begin repaying their debt next month, current college students are being urged to borrow wisely.
Missouri Western State University Interim Director of Financing, Jessica Hills, says students and their parents should examine their options before borrowing to pay for college.
“Federal student loans have a lot of different repayment options than private student loans,” Hills tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, if you have to borrow, looking at federal student loans first is probably going to be the best option. For example, this year the interest rate on subsidized and unsubsidized loans is 5.5%. On private student loans, you’re usually seeing higher interest rates than that.”
Hills says it is always good for students to carefully consider how much they should realistically borrow before taking out a loan.
“I think one great thing to do is to look ahead,” Hills says. “Let’s say that I’m going into a certain field, maybe I could look at the average salary for that field and when I go to borrow student loans, I want to think about what is my repayment going to look like.”
Hills also urges students to apply for as many scholarships and grants as possible. She says Missouri Western has a single form to fill out to apply for all its scholarships.
Hills also suggests students and their parents check out the Federal Student Aid website studentaid.gov, which has simulators to help gauge the proper amount to borrow. Hills suggests checking it annually.
“And so, it’s great to take that check each year as you go to borrow student loans and say, okay, can I afford this, does this payment amount still seem reasonable? And making sure that you know what you borrowed and you’re not just blindly borrowing.”
Hills says students and parents need to do their research to insure they are borrowing the proper amount and not taking on unnecessary debt.