September 1, 2023 • 28 mins
Welcome Back To School! This episode features updates from USDE regarding student loan repayment that begins on October 1, 2023, and how to prepare yourself for repayment.
©2023-DAS Financial Aid Consulting Services, LLC - All Rights Reserved
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Hey y'all,
it's Dana from DAS Financial Aid Consulting services.
I'd like to welcome you in to let's talk Financial Aid for college.
This is a new season.
Uh and I'd like to welcome all students back to school of all ages because financial aid uh when you're talking financial aid for college,
(00:33):
it runs the gamut age wise.
I know we're talk a lot of focuses on the new students,
the freshmen coming in uh that maybe just graduated high school uh last spring.
And,
but in reality,
Financial Aid for college is for folks of all ages that are returning back to school.
(00:56):
Um My name is Dana Anderson Sharples.
I am uh the owner of DAS Financial Aid Consulting Services.
I have uh been a financial aid auditor for the United States Department of Education for almost 17 years now.
Um So I,
(01:17):
I have been in the industry for quite some time.
Um mainly my uh clients that I service uh for schools are uh career and technical colleges across the United States.
Um I do have a few uh clients that are uh graduate schools.
(01:39):
I do have a few clients that um a teacher school.
Um So it,
it runs the gamut but the,
the main focus is on career in uh technical schools.
Um Mainly cosmetology,
massage therapy,
aesthetics.
Uh I have tractor trailer driving schools.
(02:00):
Uh I have uh medical assisting business schools.
Uh So again,
it runs,
it runs the gamut.
Um We also have uh there's a,
a school also out um west in Vegas that um has a,
a great program for auto motive technicians um as well as uh electricians.
(02:25):
H VAC we've got at that all across the country.
So those are the schools that mainly I service.
But I can tell you this,
that no matter if you're going to a career technical school,
you are also uh or a four year college,
university or grad school.
The rules are the same from the United States Department of Education when it comes to student loans and financial aid that you're eligible to receive based on filling out what we call the free application for Federal student aid or also known as the FS A.
(03:02):
So I would um like to also announce um with this new season that I am offering a subscription uh through Apple Podcast.
This has been something that I have been working on um for a little bit.
And uh so I'm happy to say that actually,
(03:23):
when the show is done,
this will be the first episodes that's uploaded.
Um And part of the advantage of having a subscription is,
is that there will be um podcasts that I will be doing just exclusively for this subscription going forward.
Uh,
a lot of this,
what I plan on doing is,
is to walk everyone through the process,
(03:45):
whether you're a student,
a parent uh for a um financially professional like myself.
Um I'm going to be providing all the information because all of the information concerns everybody whether you're in the industry and servicing uh and,
and reviewing these uh student aid files for the parents and the students to get them uh set and ready to go to your school or whether you're on the receiving end of being the student or the parent.
(04:16):
This is full disclosure of what happens because I know the internal workings of how this this is working um with this um government agency,
I'm gonna also share with you right from the get go that no matter what administration we are under the administration dictates how financial aid is processed as well as the rules of the Constitution of the United States.
(04:46):
So I'm just gonna put it right out there because today's topic is gonna be mainly focused on the student loan repayment that begins next month,
October 1st one month from today.
But as we all know,
today starts the interest.
So that's what the show is mainly about.
(05:08):
This description is going to be um 9 99 a month.
Uh again,
full content that I am going to be providing So,
and you'll have access to all the back shows as well.
So without further ado,
let's get into today's topic of the student loan repayment again,
(05:30):
that begins one month from today October 1st.
If you have not received uh any information and reached out to your loan servicer that you have uh been assigned to,
you need to do that right away.
There should be no surprises after everything that's been going on with COVID with the COVID stay and you know,
(05:56):
um in the announcement in the news and then we have the US Supreme Court decision on June 30th regarding what the student loan forgiveness that was announced a year ago was unconstitutional and Congress is not in session,
they haven't even discussed this on how the how student loan uh forgiveness if it's even an option on the table.
(06:19):
Now,
the main reason why uh for those of you that may not understand or,
or know how this all works,
ok?
The student loans,
the money comes from us taxpayer dollars and today marks we're one month away from the end of the fiscal year for 2000 for 2023 basically.
(06:46):
So the fiscal year is ending and now the 2024 fiscal year is beginning on October 1st.
So with all of that said or I apologize,
I'm I'm getting ahead of myself.
It's the 2022 fiscal year that's ending apologize.
So it goes 2022 to 2023 for the fiscal year from October 1st to September 30th.
(07:11):
Ok.
And so the new fiscal year on October 1st that begins will be for the 2023 2024.
Ok.
So the money that we,
the,
the United States government is given to give out in Pell grant direct loans,
(07:36):
federal work study and a couple of other programs that they have called SCOG.
If your school offers federal work study and scog,
then all of that money is coming from a pool of taxpayer dollars that's allotted out of the United States budget.
(07:56):
So the money that was giving out to those of you that have student loans that are going into repayment and interest starts accrued again today,
that money was given to you in good faith.
You signed a promissory note promising to pay for the education that you went to the school to receive or schools.
(08:23):
Um And now it's time to start paying just as you would.
If you apply for a car loan,
you apply for a credit card and you apply for a mortgage,
any type of loan,
you gotta start paying it back and interest does accrue on the loan.
Otherwise nobody makes any money.
The banks are in it to make money.
So if you go to a bank,
(08:44):
you go to get a loan,
you're not gonna get a loan at a 0% interest rate.
It just isn't gonna happen.
Now,
I understand that there are credit card offers out there that offer you for a short period of time,
0% interest accrual.
I I know that there are some that are offering that now,
but once that time period ends,
no matter what the balance is,
(09:06):
that interest rate on the credit card is what it is when you signed up for it.
Ok,
so that's why it's important that again,
if you have not heard from your loan servicer,
it is your obligation to contact them and to ask them about the repayment set up and,
(09:32):
and how this is all gonna work for you going forward.
Um So how it works is is that once you pay on a loan,
you have a,
a certain um limit if you will.
So undergrad students have a limit that they are eligible to apply for during the time that they're actively in school.
(09:57):
And then also while you're actively in school,
if you do have loans from another um school that you had attended,
then you can put them in forbearance and defer it while you go to the new school that you're applying to.
If you will.
(10:19):
Um,
if you do go that route and you're going back to school and you have loans that are going into repayment,
you need to contact your loan servicer and get a loan deferral deferment uh form,
fill it out and submit it to them so that they understand that the loans need to go into deferral.
(10:39):
That doesn't mean that the interest isn't gonna occur.
So let,
let's just get that out there right now.
If you have federal student loans out there,
the interest is gonna be accruing as of today,
there is no more.
We're not gonna be charging interest because it's just,
you can't do that anymore.
(11:00):
Ok?
And,
um,
just a word of advice to those of you that are seeing,
think,
thinking to yourself.
Well,
I'm just not gonna pay it,
I can tell you that not paying it is gonna be put you in a worse position because as far as loans,
(11:21):
uh,
student loans go federal student loans,
if you filed for bankruptcy,
do not get discharged.
The reason why is because it's federal money,
they,
they're not gonna discharge federal money.
So the these loans that you signed up for are following you and they will continue to follow you for your whole entire credit history.
(11:41):
So that will,
as far as your uh,
credit to debt ratio that will affect any of the other purchases in your life that you plan on doing.
For example,
uh,
a new car,
uh,
if you're carrying too much of a debt to income ratio,
you're not gonna get that in a car.
(12:03):
If you have AAA high debt ratio,
I'm just gonna put it out there.
I've been in the loan industry prior to being a financially auditor,
uh,
and compliance officer.
I was in lending um for quite some time,
I was a mortgage lender,
I was an installment loan lender.
So I,
(12:23):
I know this and I also know legal,
legal because I went to school and I got a paralegal degree.
So I worked for attorneys for a while.
So all of this ties in with what I'm telling you.
Uh,
so,
uh,
when it comes to student loan debt in again,
I'm just gonna say that you signed up for it.
(12:44):
You need to take responsibility and you need to figure out how you're gonna pay it and you need to figure out how it's gonna work with your monthly budget.
Now,
there are some folks and,
and I understand because I've been in your situation as well that maybe their income for whatever reason is a lot different than what it was when you were going to school um or vice versa.
(13:12):
Now,
when I went to school quite some time ago,
I went to a community or a business school and I,
I was working while I was going to school,
there was no option for me not to work and just go to school.
So I had put myself in,
in a good position for that.
(13:32):
Um I also went to a school that I knew I could afford.
Now,
there are a lot of folks out there that um being just real with you.
There are so many people out there that went to schools that they could not afford.
I know that for a fact I have clients,
I have students coming to me all the time.
(13:55):
Even family members who are going to be going to college,
ok.
Have come to me and said,
hey,
Dana,
what do I do?
And I look at them and I ask them point blank.
Can you afford to go to the school?
If you can't afford to go to the school?
You shouldn't be looking at that school.
(14:17):
It's basically like going car shopping.
If you will,
if you can't afford a Ferrari,
you shouldn't be looking at a Ferrari,
you can't afford a Mercedes Benz.
You can't afford a Lexus,
all of those cars that are top of the line,
Tesla's.
If you can't afford those cars,
you shouldn't be looking at buying them.
(14:38):
So you gotta kind of bring yourself back to reality and figure out what you could afford.
The other thing that,
uh,
I know for a fact is,
is there's a lot of students out there and I'm gonna date myself.
But my generation,
I grew up,
(14:58):
graduated in the eighties.
So,
yes,
I,
I'm,
I'm middle aged and,
uh,
when I graduated high school,
uh,
we were all under the assumption,
graduating high school that and I was in this,
this minority of a group that,
um,
(15:20):
I didn't,
I wasn't able to go to college right after high school.
Um,
because we couldn't afford it,
the folks couldn't afford it.
I couldn't afford it and I definitely wasn't gonna ask or sign up for something that I couldn't afford.
Now,
I'm gonna just stop right here for a minute because I'm going to just tell you that student loans,
(15:45):
federal student loans,
these are the only loans that a student can apply for and not prove ability to pay.
Ok.
Any other loan that you go and apply for again,
you have to show ability to pay.
And the reason why I'm just putting this out there is,
(16:08):
is because I'm gonna tell you right now and all financial professionals know this.
If we were to stop and make everybody that's applying for a student loan,
show ability to pay,
we would not be in the debt situation that we are right now.
(16:34):
That's the bottom line of,
of how this is all working.
So with having said that those of you that uh are either looking at colleges to attend or attended colleges that you couldn't afford and now you have this huge debt load on top of the fact that you may have a degree that you may not be able to get a job with your best option is to look at a school that will teach you a skill for life.
(17:12):
Now,
why am I saying that?
Ok,
we all know that in order to function in life,
if you have a life skill that puts you above a person that has a piece of paper that doesn't have any experience or that skill when it comes to the job market.
OK?
And if you are an individual that maybe has the degree but no experience or maybe you had a little bit of an internship while you were going to school.
(17:45):
If you still don't have the experience,
the work experience,
you were future employer when they're going through applications may or may not look at your application as closely because of the fact that you don't have the experience.
(18:06):
This is something that's happened through,
through life.
I,
I know that this happened to me when I was going to school.
Um But again,
as I will say that I was already working um in banking when I decided to go obtain a paralegal degree.
(18:27):
And the reason why I was looking for a paralegal degree is to be honest with you,
I started at a,
as an account going to school and I went into the accounting uh department if you will.
And I thought,
ok,
well,
because I work on the teller line every day and I understand the loans and everything that,
(18:50):
you know,
doing books and I,
I do book keep,
I did bookkeeping for,
for bank clients,
they would come in and their checking accounts were in the negative and they were all in a panic because they didn't have any money to pay,
cover what they needed to cover.
So we had to get them back on track.
So I'd have to balance their checkbooks.
Ok.
So I thought,
ok,
accounting,
(19:11):
I'll,
I'll go do accounting.
Well,
the problem with the accounting was is that even though I understood how to balance a checkbook,
what I did on a daily basis on the teller line was opposite about the accounting.
So my accounting sheets weren't exactly right.
And this is back in the day when we didn't have quick books.
(19:32):
So I'm,
again,
I'm dating myself,
but I just,
I'm sharing this with you.
Um,
so I quickly learned that,
that,
that probably wasn't a good avenue for me to pursue further because I was like,
totally lost.
So,
my,
uh,
I went to my advisor and I'd always liked,
(19:54):
um,
doing research in,
in legal.
And so that's how I ended up switching and transferring into the paralegal uh degree if you will and I excelled at that.
So here I am working on the teller line.
I'm going for a paralegal degree and now I decide after I got a couple of promotions at the bank,
(20:15):
I finally get my degree as a paralegal.
Um,
the bank was actually closing,
uh,
due to,
um,
an economic downturn.
Um,
and so I ended up,
um,
obtaining the paralegal degree and then went to work for some attorneys for a while.
Um,
(20:35):
and then that part of it was good because I was able to,
you know,
practice researching and so forth.
But as far as the,
the financial aid uh aspect for college,
all of this ties in because there are times in your life when,
when you think that if you get this degree,
(20:58):
you're gonna be able to get this job.
And I'm just gonna,
again,
just reiterate what I said earlier is,
is that sometimes if you don't have the experience or the life skill to back it up,
then maybe you need to do something else besides that degree.
Ok.
(21:18):
Um So a lot of times what I do is is I'm going to um explain to you rather quickly.
Um,
with regards to the student loan repayment,
there is um some stories if you will news stories and I have to research this uh to not only keep y'all informed but inform myself uh with my daily job that I do with auditing the files and making sure um,
(21:50):
the information is accurate is that,
um,
there are stories that are going around about this new plan that you can sign up for.
It's called the Save plan.
And if you go to student aid dot gov and you can go over to um,
the section that they have uh regarding repayment and this is the plan that they're promoting.
(22:14):
Now,
now this plan I'm gonna tell you right now,
it says the repayment plan offers lower monthly loan payments and as you scroll down,
it will give you some information that is not quite accurate because again,
(22:37):
we all know that the whole student loan debt forgiveness is not constant.
It goes against the US constitution because Congress did not approve that money to be forgiven.
So having said that these estimated monthly payments that are appearing on the student aid dot gov website are misleading.
(23:07):
And the reason why they're misleading is is because of the fact they're gonna have you apply just like they did for the student loan debt relief that never came to fruition.
This plan has not been approved by Congress.
So again,
I am cautioning you all that.
If you apply for this,
(23:28):
do not be misled that this is actually how this is gonna work because it's not if they tell you that you're gonna get,
you know,
if you have.
So I'm reading right from the chart from this announcement and it says if you have zero income,
(23:50):
then your monthly payment under the save plan is zero,
but it can't be zero because they can't write off the student loan because it was just said by the Supreme Court that they can't do that.
So when they say zero,
that doesn't mean the interest isn't gonna go and accrue on the loans that you need to pay if you're in this boat.
(24:18):
So are you,
are you following me here?
So if you say if they say that you're not gonna pay that money,
it's still gonna be under your social security number that you owe that money,
it's not going away.
So that's why I just want to caution you what you may be hearing in the media is not reality.
(24:42):
It,
it's just not reality because it has not been approved right now.
Congress isn't even in session.
They haven't been in session for quite some time because they have their summer break.
Everybody knows that.
So now next week they'll be back in session but we,
you know what's going on here uh with our government.
(25:03):
So I just what?
So I'm just gonna put it out there.
If you sign up for this,
please,
please please do not think that this is reality at this certain point in time.
Ok.
Um So right now what everybody should be focused on again is if you haven't heard from me loan servicer,
please contact your loan service,
(25:26):
sir,
that you've been assigned to.
The other thing I want to caution everyone on is if you have heard from a loan servicer,
but it doesn't match the loan servicer that you previously had.
You need to stop and do some research because there's scams going on right now.
And I don't,
(25:46):
I I I'm just putting it out there that you just need to do your due diligence to make sure that if the company that you're hearing from is a company that you've never heard from before,
just make sure you check it out.
Um Because there was some uh chatter going on um from the US de regarding these um there are loan servicers out there or,
(26:17):
or companies posing as loan servicers and again that they may not be loan servicers with the United States Department of Education.
It may be something totally different.
Um,
so just make sure you know who you're talking to,
uh,
with regards to your loans.
(26:37):
As always,
I'm available for any questions you may have.
Please reach out to me at D Anderson at das financially consulting services dot com.
Um And you can also check out our,
uh,
my Facebook page that I have set up.
Um,
it's under DAS again,
financially consulting services LLC.
(27:00):
Um And also I'm on linkedin,
um for right now,
that's where we are.
And I do have a youtube channel under DAS as well and that's where you find the majority of the archive podcast as well as you can get them here on Pod Bean Live.
Um And I've also been um providing free podcasts through Apple podcast um for a couple of years now as well.
(27:26):
But as far as the subscription goes,
I'd like to welcome you all in uh to this subscription.
Um I greatly appreciate the support over the years and um,
I'm hoping that the information that I provide to y'all um is helpful.
I'll be back on Monday.
Um That's part of the subscription now.
It used to be just Financial aid Fridays,
(27:47):
but beginning with the new Year,
the subscription,
I am going to be upping the amount of podcasts that I do,
um,
on a regular basis.
So Monday,
I,
uh,
will be back in,
uh,
with another episode which,
uh,
is for the subscription and,
and it is,
(28:07):
uh,
the Labor Day holiday,
but we'll all pop in and,
uh,
maybe have a coffee chat with y'all with regards to what you have to look forward to,
um,
with the new s that's coming out in December.
That's the other thing,
there's updates on that as well.
So,
join me on Monday.
We'll have a quick coffee chat,
(28:28):
uh,
over,
uh,
what's going on,
uh,
with the new 2024 25.
Uh,
FASFA buddy.
Have a great weekend,
uh,
and,
uh,
everybody take care and I'll talk to you soon.
Bye.
Hey y'all,
it's Dana from DAS Financial Aid Consulting services.
I'd like to welcome you in to let's talk Financial Aid for college.
This is a new season.
Uh and I'd like to welcome all students back to school of all ages because financial aid uh when you're talking financial aid for college,
(00:33):
it runs the gamut age wise.
I know we're talk a lot of focuses on the new students,
the freshmen coming in uh that maybe just graduated high school uh last spring.
And,
but in reality,
Financial Aid for college is for folks of all ages that are returning back to school.
(00:56):
Um My name is Dana Anderson Sharples.
I am uh the owner of DAS Financial Aid Consulting Services.
I have uh been a financial aid auditor for the United States Department of Education for almost 17 years now.
Um So I,
(01:17):
I have been in the industry for quite some time.
Um mainly my uh clients that I service uh for schools are uh career and technical colleges across the United States.
Um I do have a few uh clients that are uh graduate schools.
(01:39):
I do have a few clients that um a teacher school.
Um So it,
it runs the gamut but the,
the main focus is on career in uh technical schools.
Um Mainly cosmetology,
massage therapy,
aesthetics.
Uh I have tractor trailer driving schools.
(02:00):
Uh I have uh medical assisting business schools.
Uh So again,
it runs,
it runs the gamut.
Um We also have uh there's a,
a school also out um west in Vegas that um has a,
a great program for auto motive technicians um as well as uh electricians.
(02:25):
H VAC we've got at that all across the country.
So those are the schools that mainly I service.
But I can tell you this,
that no matter if you're going to a career technical school,
you are also uh or a four year college,
university or grad school.
The rules are the same from the United States Department of Education when it comes to student loans and financial aid that you're eligible to receive based on filling out what we call the free application for Federal student aid or also known as the FS A.
(03:02):
So I would um like to also announce um with this new season that I am offering a subscription uh through Apple Podcast.
This has been something that I have been working on um for a little bit.
And uh so I'm happy to say that actually,
(03:23):
when the show is done,
this will be the first episodes that's uploaded.
Um And part of the advantage of having a subscription is,
is that there will be um podcasts that I will be doing just exclusively for this subscription going forward.
Uh,
a lot of this,
what I plan on doing is,
is to walk everyone through the process,
(03:45):
whether you're a student,
a parent uh for a um financially professional like myself.
Um I'm going to be providing all the information because all of the information concerns everybody whether you're in the industry and servicing uh and,
and reviewing these uh student aid files for the parents and the students to get them uh set and ready to go to your school or whether you're on the receiving end of being the student or the parent.
(04:16):
This is full disclosure of what happens because I know the internal workings of how this this is working um with this um government agency,
I'm gonna also share with you right from the get go that no matter what administration we are under the administration dictates how financial aid is processed as well as the rules of the Constitution of the United States.
(04:46):
So I'm just gonna put it right out there because today's topic is gonna be mainly focused on the student loan repayment that begins next month,
October 1st one month from today.
But as we all know,
today starts the interest.
So that's what the show is mainly about.
(05:08):
This description is going to be um 9 99 a month.
Uh again,
full content that I am going to be providing So,
and you'll have access to all the back shows as well.
So without further ado,
let's get into today's topic of the student loan repayment again,
(05:30):
that begins one month from today October 1st.
If you have not received uh any information and reached out to your loan servicer that you have uh been assigned to,
you need to do that right away.
There should be no surprises after everything that's been going on with COVID with the COVID stay and you know,
(05:56):
um in the announcement in the news and then we have the US Supreme Court decision on June 30th regarding what the student loan forgiveness that was announced a year ago was unconstitutional and Congress is not in session,
they haven't even discussed this on how the how student loan uh forgiveness if it's even an option on the table.
(06:19):
Now,
the main reason why uh for those of you that may not understand or,
or know how this all works,
ok?
The student loans,
the money comes from us taxpayer dollars and today marks we're one month away from the end of the fiscal year for 2000 for 2023 basically.
(06:46):
So the fiscal year is ending and now the 2024 fiscal year is beginning on October 1st.
So with all of that said or I apologize,
I'm I'm getting ahead of myself.
It's the 2022 fiscal year that's ending apologize.
So it goes 2022 to 2023 for the fiscal year from October 1st to September 30th.
(07:11):
Ok.
And so the new fiscal year on October 1st that begins will be for the 2023 2024.
Ok.
So the money that we,
the,
the United States government is given to give out in Pell grant direct loans,
(07:36):
federal work study and a couple of other programs that they have called SCOG.
If your school offers federal work study and scog,
then all of that money is coming from a pool of taxpayer dollars that's allotted out of the United States budget.
(07:56):
So the money that was giving out to those of you that have student loans that are going into repayment and interest starts accrued again today,
that money was given to you in good faith.
You signed a promissory note promising to pay for the education that you went to the school to receive or schools.
(08:23):
Um And now it's time to start paying just as you would.
If you apply for a car loan,
you apply for a credit card and you apply for a mortgage,
any type of loan,
you gotta start paying it back and interest does accrue on the loan.
Otherwise nobody makes any money.
The banks are in it to make money.
So if you go to a bank,
(08:44):
you go to get a loan,
you're not gonna get a loan at a 0% interest rate.
It just isn't gonna happen.
Now,
I understand that there are credit card offers out there that offer you for a short period of time,
0% interest accrual.
I I know that there are some that are offering that now,
but once that time period ends,
no matter what the balance is,
(09:06):
that interest rate on the credit card is what it is when you signed up for it.
Ok,
so that's why it's important that again,
if you have not heard from your loan servicer,
it is your obligation to contact them and to ask them about the repayment set up and,
(09:32):
and how this is all gonna work for you going forward.
Um So how it works is is that once you pay on a loan,
you have a,
a certain um limit if you will.
So undergrad students have a limit that they are eligible to apply for during the time that they're actively in school.
(09:57):
And then also while you're actively in school,
if you do have loans from another um school that you had attended,
then you can put them in forbearance and defer it while you go to the new school that you're applying to.
If you will.
(10:19):
Um,
if you do go that route and you're going back to school and you have loans that are going into repayment,
you need to contact your loan servicer and get a loan deferral deferment uh form,
fill it out and submit it to them so that they understand that the loans need to go into deferral.
(10:39):
That doesn't mean that the interest isn't gonna occur.
So let,
let's just get that out there right now.
If you have federal student loans out there,
the interest is gonna be accruing as of today,
there is no more.
We're not gonna be charging interest because it's just,
you can't do that anymore.
(11:00):
Ok?
And,
um,
just a word of advice to those of you that are seeing,
think,
thinking to yourself.
Well,
I'm just not gonna pay it,
I can tell you that not paying it is gonna be put you in a worse position because as far as loans,
(11:21):
uh,
student loans go federal student loans,
if you filed for bankruptcy,
do not get discharged.
The reason why is because it's federal money,
they,
they're not gonna discharge federal money.
So the these loans that you signed up for are following you and they will continue to follow you for your whole entire credit history.
(11:41):
So that will,
as far as your uh,
credit to debt ratio that will affect any of the other purchases in your life that you plan on doing.
For example,
uh,
a new car,
uh,
if you're carrying too much of a debt to income ratio,
you're not gonna get that in a car.
(12:03):
If you have AAA high debt ratio,
I'm just gonna put it out there.
I've been in the loan industry prior to being a financially auditor,
uh,
and compliance officer.
I was in lending um for quite some time,
I was a mortgage lender,
I was an installment loan lender.
So I,
(12:23):
I know this and I also know legal,
legal because I went to school and I got a paralegal degree.
So I worked for attorneys for a while.
So all of this ties in with what I'm telling you.
Uh,
so,
uh,
when it comes to student loan debt in again,
I'm just gonna say that you signed up for it.
(12:44):
You need to take responsibility and you need to figure out how you're gonna pay it and you need to figure out how it's gonna work with your monthly budget.
Now,
there are some folks and,
and I understand because I've been in your situation as well that maybe their income for whatever reason is a lot different than what it was when you were going to school um or vice versa.
(13:12):
Now,
when I went to school quite some time ago,
I went to a community or a business school and I,
I was working while I was going to school,
there was no option for me not to work and just go to school.
So I had put myself in,
in a good position for that.
(13:32):
Um I also went to a school that I knew I could afford.
Now,
there are a lot of folks out there that um being just real with you.
There are so many people out there that went to schools that they could not afford.
I know that for a fact I have clients,
I have students coming to me all the time.
(13:55):
Even family members who are going to be going to college,
ok.
Have come to me and said,
hey,
Dana,
what do I do?
And I look at them and I ask them point blank.
Can you afford to go to the school?
If you can't afford to go to the school?
You shouldn't be looking at that school.
(14:17):
It's basically like going car shopping.
If you will,
if you can't afford a Ferrari,
you shouldn't be looking at a Ferrari,
you can't afford a Mercedes Benz.
You can't afford a Lexus,
all of those cars that are top of the line,
Tesla's.
If you can't afford those cars,
you shouldn't be looking at buying them.
(14:38):
So you gotta kind of bring yourself back to reality and figure out what you could afford.
The other thing that,
uh,
I know for a fact is,
is there's a lot of students out there and I'm gonna date myself.
But my generation,
I grew up,
(14:58):
graduated in the eighties.
So,
yes,
I,
I'm,
I'm middle aged and,
uh,
when I graduated high school,
uh,
we were all under the assumption,
graduating high school that and I was in this,
this minority of a group that,
um,
(15:20):
I didn't,
I wasn't able to go to college right after high school.
Um,
because we couldn't afford it,
the folks couldn't afford it.
I couldn't afford it and I definitely wasn't gonna ask or sign up for something that I couldn't afford.
Now,
I'm gonna just stop right here for a minute because I'm going to just tell you that student loans,
(15:45):
federal student loans,
these are the only loans that a student can apply for and not prove ability to pay.
Ok.
Any other loan that you go and apply for again,
you have to show ability to pay.
And the reason why I'm just putting this out there is,
(16:08):
is because I'm gonna tell you right now and all financial professionals know this.
If we were to stop and make everybody that's applying for a student loan,
show ability to pay,
we would not be in the debt situation that we are right now.
(16:34):
That's the bottom line of,
of how this is all working.
So with having said that those of you that uh are either looking at colleges to attend or attended colleges that you couldn't afford and now you have this huge debt load on top of the fact that you may have a degree that you may not be able to get a job with your best option is to look at a school that will teach you a skill for life.
(17:12):
Now,
why am I saying that?
Ok,
we all know that in order to function in life,
if you have a life skill that puts you above a person that has a piece of paper that doesn't have any experience or that skill when it comes to the job market.
OK?
And if you are an individual that maybe has the degree but no experience or maybe you had a little bit of an internship while you were going to school.
(17:45):
If you still don't have the experience,
the work experience,
you were future employer when they're going through applications may or may not look at your application as closely because of the fact that you don't have the experience.
(18:06):
This is something that's happened through,
through life.
I,
I know that this happened to me when I was going to school.
Um But again,
as I will say that I was already working um in banking when I decided to go obtain a paralegal degree.
(18:27):
And the reason why I was looking for a paralegal degree is to be honest with you,
I started at a,
as an account going to school and I went into the accounting uh department if you will.
And I thought,
ok,
well,
because I work on the teller line every day and I understand the loans and everything that,
(18:50):
you know,
doing books and I,
I do book keep,
I did bookkeeping for,
for bank clients,
they would come in and their checking accounts were in the negative and they were all in a panic because they didn't have any money to pay,
cover what they needed to cover.
So we had to get them back on track.
So I'd have to balance their checkbooks.
Ok.
So I thought,
ok,
accounting,
(19:11):
I'll,
I'll go do accounting.
Well,
the problem with the accounting was is that even though I understood how to balance a checkbook,
what I did on a daily basis on the teller line was opposite about the accounting.
So my accounting sheets weren't exactly right.
And this is back in the day when we didn't have quick books.
(19:32):
So I'm,
again,
I'm dating myself,
but I just,
I'm sharing this with you.
Um,
so I quickly learned that,
that,
that probably wasn't a good avenue for me to pursue further because I was like,
totally lost.
So,
my,
uh,
I went to my advisor and I'd always liked,
(19:54):
um,
doing research in,
in legal.
And so that's how I ended up switching and transferring into the paralegal uh degree if you will and I excelled at that.
So here I am working on the teller line.
I'm going for a paralegal degree and now I decide after I got a couple of promotions at the bank,
(20:15):
I finally get my degree as a paralegal.
Um,
the bank was actually closing,
uh,
due to,
um,
an economic downturn.
Um,
and so I ended up,
um,
obtaining the paralegal degree and then went to work for some attorneys for a while.
Um,
(20:35):
and then that part of it was good because I was able to,
you know,
practice researching and so forth.
But as far as the,
the financial aid uh aspect for college,
all of this ties in because there are times in your life when,
when you think that if you get this degree,
(20:58):
you're gonna be able to get this job.
And I'm just gonna,
again,
just reiterate what I said earlier is,
is that sometimes if you don't have the experience or the life skill to back it up,
then maybe you need to do something else besides that degree.
Ok.
(21:18):
Um So a lot of times what I do is is I'm going to um explain to you rather quickly.
Um,
with regards to the student loan repayment,
there is um some stories if you will news stories and I have to research this uh to not only keep y'all informed but inform myself uh with my daily job that I do with auditing the files and making sure um,
(21:50):
the information is accurate is that,
um,
there are stories that are going around about this new plan that you can sign up for.
It's called the Save plan.
And if you go to student aid dot gov and you can go over to um,
the section that they have uh regarding repayment and this is the plan that they're promoting.
(22:14):
Now,
now this plan I'm gonna tell you right now,
it says the repayment plan offers lower monthly loan payments and as you scroll down,
it will give you some information that is not quite accurate because again,
(22:37):
we all know that the whole student loan debt forgiveness is not constant.
It goes against the US constitution because Congress did not approve that money to be forgiven.
So having said that these estimated monthly payments that are appearing on the student aid dot gov website are misleading.
(23:07):
And the reason why they're misleading is is because of the fact they're gonna have you apply just like they did for the student loan debt relief that never came to fruition.
This plan has not been approved by Congress.
So again,
I am cautioning you all that.
If you apply for this,
(23:28):
do not be misled that this is actually how this is gonna work because it's not if they tell you that you're gonna get,
you know,
if you have.
So I'm reading right from the chart from this announcement and it says if you have zero income,
(23:50):
then your monthly payment under the save plan is zero,
but it can't be zero because they can't write off the student loan because it was just said by the Supreme Court that they can't do that.
So when they say zero,
that doesn't mean the interest isn't gonna go and accrue on the loans that you need to pay if you're in this boat.
(24:18):
So are you,
are you following me here?
So if you say if they say that you're not gonna pay that money,
it's still gonna be under your social security number that you owe that money,
it's not going away.
So that's why I just want to caution you what you may be hearing in the media is not reality.
(24:42):
It,
it's just not reality because it has not been approved right now.
Congress isn't even in session.
They haven't been in session for quite some time because they have their summer break.
Everybody knows that.
So now next week they'll be back in session but we,
you know what's going on here uh with our government.
(25:03):
So I just what?
So I'm just gonna put it out there.
If you sign up for this,
please,
please please do not think that this is reality at this certain point in time.
Ok.
Um So right now what everybody should be focused on again is if you haven't heard from me loan servicer,
please contact your loan service,
(25:26):
sir,
that you've been assigned to.
The other thing I want to caution everyone on is if you have heard from a loan servicer,
but it doesn't match the loan servicer that you previously had.
You need to stop and do some research because there's scams going on right now.
And I don't,
(25:46):
I I I'm just putting it out there that you just need to do your due diligence to make sure that if the company that you're hearing from is a company that you've never heard from before,
just make sure you check it out.
Um Because there was some uh chatter going on um from the US de regarding these um there are loan servicers out there or,
(26:17):
or companies posing as loan servicers and again that they may not be loan servicers with the United States Department of Education.
It may be something totally different.
Um,
so just make sure you know who you're talking to,
uh,
with regards to your loans.
(26:37):
As always,
I'm available for any questions you may have.
Please reach out to me at D Anderson at das financially consulting services dot com.
Um And you can also check out our,
uh,
my Facebook page that I have set up.
Um,
it's under DAS again,
financially consulting services LLC.
(27:00):
Um And also I'm on linkedin,
um for right now,
that's where we are.
And I do have a youtube channel under DAS as well and that's where you find the majority of the archive podcast as well as you can get them here on Pod Bean Live.
Um And I've also been um providing free podcasts through Apple podcast um for a couple of years now as well.
(27:26):
But as far as the subscription goes,
I'd like to welcome you all in uh to this subscription.
Um I greatly appreciate the support over the years and um,
I'm hoping that the information that I provide to y'all um is helpful.
I'll be back on Monday.
Um That's part of the subscription now.
It used to be just Financial aid Fridays,
(27:47):
but beginning with the new Year,
the subscription,
I am going to be upping the amount of podcasts that I do,
um,
on a regular basis.
So Monday,
I,
uh,
will be back in,
uh,
with another episode which,
uh,
is for the subscription and,
and it is,
(28:07):
uh,
the Labor Day holiday,
but we'll all pop in and,
uh,
maybe have a coffee chat with y'all with regards to what you have to look forward to,
um,
with the new s that's coming out in December.
That's the other thing,
there's updates on that as well.
So,
join me on Monday.
We'll have a quick coffee chat,
(28:28):
uh,
over,
uh,
what's going on,
uh,
with the new 2024 25.
Uh,
FASFA buddy.
Have a great weekend,
uh,
and,
uh,
everybody take care and I'll talk to you soon.
Bye.
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