Erasing Student Loan Debt With Shorter Repayment Plans–Graduates Save On College Loan Interest

Students who are attempting to erase their college loan debt obligations may opt for shorter repayment plan as this could save a great deal on interest that a student must meet when attempting to find student loan debt relief. There are various student loan opportunities that are available to individuals in need of financial aid in this area, but repayment plans that have also been offered to some students can be beneficial in that they make the monthly payment obligation a student must meet more affordable, but it could increase the overall costs that are met by a student when all is said and done.

Obviously, there are some graduates who have been unable to meet their minimum monthly payment on their student loan debt repayment plan or on multiple student loans, and for this reason many have turned to student loan consolidation plans or have taken advantage of federal assistance programs that will allow these individuals to meet a lower payment from month-to-month. While this has been necessary for those who may be in an unemployment situation or who may be unable to find an employment opportunity that provides them the income to meet the entirety of their student loan debt obligation, some students who are on a longer repayment timeframe, like a 20 year plan, will obviously be paying a substantial amount more than those who are on shorter repayment programs.

A college graduate who can afford to erase this debt in a timely manner will, again, benefit in that the amount they pay overall could drastically increase with a longer repayment timeframe. While there are some students who may have a high amount of college loan debt that will also qualify for student loan forgiveness plans, those who are in a traditional repayment situation and may not qualify to have their debts discharged or may not be employed in a position that will offer student loan repayment assistance as long as they work with this organization, need to consider these repayment options as opting for a shorter repayment timeframe versus a longer repayment plan can be the difference between a few thousand dollars and tens of thousands of dollars.

However, it is understandable that some graduates are simply not in the position to erase their debt through higher monthly payments, as obviously, a shortened timeframe on one's student loan repayment plan will necessitate a higher monthly payment obligation. Yet, if proper budgeting habits can be implemented or a graduate is simply in the position to meet this higher payment, advisers are asking that these men and women consider different repayment options in order to not only erase their college loan debt faster but do so at much lower costs overall.

Taking Away The Stress: Student Loan Consolidation Can Make It Easier

While there are opportunities for students to consolidate debt through a private student loan consolidation plan, graduates who have federal loans may also take advantage of federal student loan consolidation options which could come at a lower interest rate than some private consolidation plan. Yet, financial aid counselors often point out that not all graduates will benefit from consolidating student loans after they have exited college, and for this reason, careful consideration must be made before entering into a consolidation agreement.

Too Much Borrowing

"Students are having to take out more loans, usually having to max out their federal loans and having to take out private loans in addition to using credit cards," she said. "Once that all comes due, they're often not in a position to afford the payments."

Career Qualifying Forgiveness Plans

Federal student loan consolidation plans or repayment options that allow students to only pay a small percentage of their monthly income towards their student loans each month can work along with this forgiveness option and provide not only more affordability on a month-to-month basis as a student is attempting to erase their debt, but after the 10 year repayment period has been met, these graduates in public service fields can have the remaining balance cleared and they will be student loan debt free. Obviously, these types of forgiveness plans are hoped to draw more individuals into the public service sector, but not all careers may qualify under a Federal student loan forgiveness plan and may require a graduate to contact their lender about qualifications for not only student loan debt forgiveness but other forms of repayment assistance that can help make repayment more affordable.

 

Smart Financial Decision

Consolidating your private student loans can be a smart financial decision that allows you to combine all of your eligible private student loans into a single student loan. In most cases, consolidating your private student loans will extend the repayment period beyond the repayment periods of the private student loans being consolidated. However, your monthly loan payment may be lower than your individual private student loan payments combined. Extending the loan term will likely increase the overall cost of your loan. You can choose to repay principal at any time with no prepayment penalty. Federal student loans are not eligible for private consolidation.

Committee to propose dropping school consolidation

ANDERSON — A committee for the Anderson County Board of Education will recommend that the board drop the idea of consolidating the county's five school districts and let superintendents work together to share services instead.

In a meeting almost two hours long Tuesday night, members of the county board met with the five district superintendents to discuss consolidation and the results of a study on educational equality across the districts.

In 2009, the county board commissioned a study from the Strom Thurmond Institute on Government and Public Affairs to look at ways to ensure equal educational opportunities for all of Anderson County's students regardless of where they lived.

The study made several recommendations from doing nothing, to sharing services, to consolidating the five districts into either one, two or three districts.

But the proposed consolidation raised an uproar in the community when it was presented in August 2009, prompting superintendents to submit a letter of recommendations on where they saw the districts could share services.

In January, the county board started a website that provided the public with access to the study and asked people to fill out a survey online to give opinions on the study.

Steve Garrison, chairman of the study committee, said the survey had received 341 responses. Of those, 68 percent said they were happy with the way the school districts are now.

In his mind, Garrison said, the issue was closed.

"It's my recommendation that what we need to do is go back and report to the board that consolidation issue is all but over and that we want to restructure this committee as an educational improvement committee going forward," Garrison said. "Consolidation is a dead issue because I don't think it's going to work in this community."

Betty Bagley, superintendent of Anderson School District 5, said the study did not recommend consolidation.

"The bottom line of that study was that it would not save money and it would not increase student performance," she said. "However, in the process we found that it has brought us (the superintendents) together to explore other avenues to save money in ways we have not before explored."

The committee determined that it would like to redirect its marketing focus from getting residents to fill out the survey to showing them what works in the school districts.

The recommendation will now go before the county board at its next meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 21 in the board offices at 402 Bleckley St. in Anderson.