6 responses to “Is there any program for individuals that are buried in Student Loan Debt?”

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  phoephus July 31st, 2010 at 14:59

  Walter

  A job.

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  sammieerr August 2nd, 2010 at 23:04

  Agnes

  I understand that!! I am in the same situation. One thing you should definitely do is consolidate all of your student loans. There are many different places who are offering this…you can research them…or just use one of your lendors. It will reduce your monthly payments and you can lock in a fixed interest rate.

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  djgriffinny August 5th, 2010 at 12:21

  Ben

  To my knowledge there is not any program to help you. I hate to say it, but get a 2nd job. Unfortunately many companies have decided that sending jobs to other countries is a good financial decision and an education no longer means a good job.

  People so frequently tell you that they can’t take a good education a way from you, it may be true, but it certainly can be made worthless.

  If you are looking into a different career, go for hands on…plumbers, carpenters, electricians are all in an area where there jobs can not be sent to a 3rd world country. Consider it.

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  bfontenot August 8th, 2010 at 17:48

  Jessica

  I know how ya feel. I have a ton of debt, I have a decent job but still can’t afford the payments. I found that the finance companies can actually be pretty easy to work with especially the government backed loans. I know forbarence is a temporary option, even long term depending on your conditions, some of the companies will even lower the payments for you due to financial hardship. If you could get a job that pays for your school, you could go back to school and defer your loans for as long as your in school. There are supposidly grants out there too, but I have not looked into that. I hope this helps a little, remember though if you can’t afford the payments it is best to contact the lender and work something out.

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  Katrine August 9th, 2010 at 00:21

  Melinda

  There was a recent report on the Chronicle for Higher Education about this. I have searched on there and can’t find it for some reason. Still, it’s worth poking around on their web site and seeing what they say on this because they look at the big picture — i.e. how student loan money funds universities as institutions. Even though it was sold to us that way, we are not really financing our individual educations – we are financing the banks first, and the universities as long term institutions second.

  I read a survey somewhere that said that most graduates experience repayment problems not immediately, but about 4-5 years after graduation.

  I do not know if you are American (I am not), but I think there is a new US federal bill dealing in part with limiting the amount you pay as you graduate — something along the lines that it cannot be more than a certain percentage of your salary (I am not sure of the details, but there is a link below that will get you started on it) in order to prevent people from becoming destitute and in order to keep them paying. Also, there is general consensus in North America that interest rates will rise, so if you can consolidate the loans and get them fixed at current rates, you will save yourself thousands of future dollars. If you are Canadian, it is a whole other Byzantine world of offices within offices within offices; if you could have transported them back in time, the Canadian student loans people could have given lessons on encrypted incompetence to administrators of the Ottoman empire. If you are somewhere else, I don’t know what to tell you.

  Pay it off as fast as you can, set aside small amounts of money by cutting out small luxuries and live frugally for a few years. Every little bit helps and gets them off your back. I have friends who did this — focussed on small sums every month, ten dollars here, twenty dollars there, and they paid the whole thing off within 6-10 years. But it was a real struggle. Otherwise, not much I can say, but buy lottery tickets and welcome to the s**t, it’s great isn’t it?

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  curtain r August 10th, 2010 at 00:09

  Marcia

  Hi, I think you should opt for loan consolidation,as it would help:

  Student Loan Consolidation