Student loan payments resumed in October after a three year pause prompted by the COVID 19 pandemic.
So how are Kentucky students handling the restart costs for their college education?
You're about to find out.
There are a number of ways in which the repayment will be different than it was before.
In Kentucky, our average student loan balance for borrowers is right around $33,000.
That's the average.
And that's for about a little over 600,000 borrowers in Kentucky.
But keep in mind that about a third of those borrowers have less than $10,000 of student loan debt.
So while 33,000 is the average, the amount, you know, obviously ranges from, you know, like I said, about a third of those folks have less than 10,000 that they're working with.
And then obviously, we have some some folks with a little bit more as well.
We are below the national average.
So the national average, that's closer to about $38,000 of average debt per student loan.
Borrower colleges.
So expensive.
And I went to a state school and grew up in a middle class family and there was just no other way that I could finish my education without taking out loans.
I have both private and public loans, and the private loans have actually I've had to start paying them.
Earlier this year, in February, I luckily applied for the SAFE plan.
And they're calling it the Save program.
It will reduce the amount of money that folks have to pay every month.
There will be a growing an increased number of people who won't have to pay on their loans at all if they're if their incomes are low, their loan balances will be forgiven earlier than would otherwise be the case.
So there are some elements of that new system that folks can now apply for that will make it better than it was before them coming back.
Or, you know, this can be hundreds of dollars, even even more per month.
It can crowd out their ability to do other things, you know, afford to have children save for their college's college education of their kids or their own education, save for retirement, buy a home, start a business.
A lot of people that I went to college with moved back home right after school, mostly because of student loan payments and just like cost of living in general, but knowing that that's on the horizon, they weren't able to go get a place of their own.
They had to move back in with their family.
If you are having some sort of hardship, whether it's, you know, loss of employment, you know, medical bills, there are certain factors that your servicer can take into account, check your email, check your mail, and make sure that you're reading what your servicer, your loan servicer is sending you so that you can follow up if they're needing information or, you know, follow any instructions that they're sending in terms of payments or reaching out to them.
It's also very important that borrowers are updating their information so a lot can change in three and a half years.
And borrowers need to make sure that the information that's on file with their loan servicer is correct.
So ensuring that their phone number, their email, their mailing address, all of that is correct so that they're not missing anything.
I would say avoid private lenders if you can.
That's been a big kicker for me, is going through a private lender for most of my loans.
I really think that living with other people has really helped me save money.
As much as roommates can sometimes be frustrating.
I think that that's a big reason as to why I am getting by right now.
You're not alone.
Almost everybody I know is struggling right after college.
It is not easy, but it does.
It's true.
I do think that it gets better.
Americans owe almost $2 trillion in federal and private student loans.