May 7, 2025 • 26 mins
Student loan borrowers face significant changes as collection practices resume and the Department of Education faces potential dismantling by December 2026. Deborah Paul from the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance explains what borrowers need to know about these changes and how to navigate them effectively.
• Student loans are considered in default after 270 days without payment
• Only 38% of student loans are currently being paid as agreed
• Default consequences include wage garnishment (up to 15%), tax refund seizure, and credit damage
• Collection activities resume May 5th with at least 30 days notice before garnishment begins
• Borrowers can rehabilitate defaulted loans with 9 consecutive monthly payments
• Income-driven repayment plans calculate payments based on what borrowers can afford
• Deferment options exist for those returning to school, serving in military, or facing economic hardship
• Forbearance provides temporary relief for short-term financial difficulties
• The Department of Education dismantling would transfer functions to Treasury, HHS, and Justice departments
• Check your loan status at studentaid.gov by accessing the National Student Loan Data System
• Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to earn college credits, potentially graduating with associate degrees
• Future changes may include eliminating PLUS loans, increasing Pell Grant requirements, and decreasing loan limits
Contact Federal Student Aid at studentaid.gov to check your loan status and explore your options. Default can severely impact your financial future, so take action now before collection activities intensify.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you want.
Now here is your host, ms KimChapman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome back to another edition of Money Matters
.
Today we're going to talk aboutsomething that has been really
a hot topic in the news studentloans.
So our returning guest, mrDeborah Paul I guess it's the
early day, early day from theLouisiana Office of Student
Financial Assistance is going tosee if she can get us up to
(00:34):
speed in terms of what's beengoing on.
There's been a lot of news, alot of changes, especially with
the change in administration.
So welcome back, deborah.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Thank you, glad to be back to help out.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Look, I can always count on her to come by and give
us some good information,whether it's for the podcast or
even my kids that are in college, and so she's got a wealth of
information.
So hopefully those of you thatare in college listening, or if
you're the parents listening andyou're wondering what's going
to happen, especially if you'rea co-sign on those student loans
, you know we want to talk aboutwhat's been happening.
(01:06):
So I guess I want to dive intoit and just talk about one of
the first changes that Iremember happening was them
saying they were going to doaway with the Department of
Education.
Can you explain what thatactually means and how that
impacts consumers?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, the current administration has vowed to
dismantle the Department ofEducation.
They've already laid off overhalf of the staff.
Nationwide Department ofEducation and federal student
aid is a component of Departmentof Education.
So if that happens it doesrequire congressional approval.
Actually, 60 votes from theSenate would be required to get
(01:44):
rid of the Department ofEducation.
And, looking back and doingsome research, it's only been in
existence for 45 years beforeit was handled by other things.
So basically, federal studentaid would be handled by the
Treasury Department, theservices for students elementary
and post-secondary studentswould be handled by the
Department of Health and HumanServices, and then Title IX, the
(02:07):
civil rights component, wouldbe held by the Department of
Justice.
So there are several bills outin Congress now talking about
dismantling it.
Then on the other end they'retrying to keep it.
So we'll see what happens as itgoes through the legislative
process.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
So are there any advantages to the average
consumer if it's dismantled?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, they want to give states more authority to do
what they need to do at thatlevel.
So I guess that would go backto 45 years ago what was
happening in the Department ofEd, and they'll be giving out
grants to states to administerthose programs.
But there's a lot of talk aboutstudents with disabilities
being maybe left out or notgetting the full room of
services that they need becausethere's no more US Department of
(02:51):
Education.
So we'll see how that ends up.
But they have plans to transferthe components to different
agencies and they're saying it'sgoing to be a seamless transfer
of service.
One of the bills I saw withinthe Department of Education as
we now know it, at the end ofDecember 2026.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So that's a year and a half from now.
Basically, oh, wow.
So I guess it's kind of a to becontinued and a wait and see.
Yeah, what happens, right.
So, of course, with everythingelse is going on there's tariffs
, there's inflation, so manythings are going up and then it
seemed like a boom was the lordin the news because they
announced that hey, all you guysthat have been on student loan
pause.
If your student loans are indefault, that time is over.
(03:33):
If your student loans indefault, they're going to start
climbing down and they're goingto start collection practices.
So first let's talk about whatdefines what makes your student
loan be in default.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
If you have not paid on your loan in 270 days, that
basically means you're indefault.
So they can, at that point,start collection.
And then, like you said in thenews, all of this new activity
starts on Monday, may 5th, soit's time for borrowers to
beware.
So if you have not paid on yourloan in 270 days, it's
(04:04):
considered to be in default.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
All right.
So somebody is listening andsaying I have a student loan.
I don't know if I've paid on it.
Has it been 200 days?
Has it been 270 days?
How can they figure out whattheir status is?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
They can contact a federal student aid, which is on
the website.
There's federal student aid andyou can log in, create an
account and there's a portalcalled National Direct Student
Loan Data System NSLDS.
So everybody who's everreceived any type of federal aid
Pell Grant, selg Grant, federalWork, study, student loans it's
(04:39):
all in that database.
You have to create an accountand the information is yours so
you can look and see where youborrowed, how much you borrowed,
what your interest rate was,what the status is, who your
servicer is, because the FederalDepartment of Education has
servicers that basically collecton the loans for people who are
(04:59):
in default.
So that's the first thing to goin there and see, and there are
a lot of advocacy groups outthere that are helping students
to find out where there's, whattheir status is, so that they
don't go into default.
If they're in default, what arethe options that they can go
from there.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
All right.
So let's talk a little bitabout what the real impact is If
your student loan is defaulted.
How does that impact yourcredit or anything else?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
It's defaulted serious.
It impacts, as you said, yourcredit score, which may stop you
from even getting a job or theability to buy a house or even
rent an apartment.
If you have a low credit score,it shows that you're not maybe
responsible.
Some insurance companies runyour credit report before they
decide to insure you.
(05:45):
Credit is king, yeah, sobasically on that side.
But then also they couldgarnish your wages, which is
severe, and the federalgovernment can garnish up to 15%
of your income if you're indefault.
So that could be 15%.
That can be significantdepending on where your income
is.
Could be that's 15, that can besignificant, depending on where
(06:07):
your income is.
Also, um, there are someprovisions where people who
receive federal benefits likesocial security, maybe even
veterans benefits, that couldpossibly be garnished if someone
is in default because they havedisposal, they have access to
all of your information.
So they know what you'regetting, when you're getting it,
where it's coming from.
You can't hide exactly, great,yeah, so they know what you're
getting, when you're getting it,where it's coming from, can't
hide, you can't hide Exactly.
Great, yeah, so they know allyour information.
So it's best to try to resolvethe delinquency prior to going
(06:33):
to default, because you knowincome tax returns federal and
state could be seized Bothfederal and state.
They could be seized as far asdefault is concerned.
So there are a lot of badthings that happen when you go
into default.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So, and which loans is it applied to?
Is it all any type of studentloan?
Is it just a federal studentloan?
Would there are private studentloans, well?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
the federal.
What they're going to startcollections on ramping down are
the federal subsidized andunsubsidized direct student
loans.
Now some students do borrowfrom do borrow private loans,
thank you.
And once they bought themaximum from the federal direct,
(07:20):
subsidized and unsubsidizedloan programs they needed
additional funds so they went tothe private loan sector.
That's separate so they mayhave their own collection
practices that may ramp up alsothe parent loan.
A parent who received a parentloan for their son or daughter
to go to school.
They could also be in defaulton a parent loan and then it
(07:40):
would start those collectionpractices against them.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
So if I look and I check and I see that my student
loan is in default, after I kindof collect myself after
panicking, what should I dofirst?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Like you said, collect yourself.
That's the first thing.
So there's several things.
So if your loan is 90 daysdelinquent, you know you can
usually resolve that prettyeasily, and then 91 to 180 days
is the late stage and then 270is default.
But you can look at trying torehabilitate your loan.
So if you are in default youcan ask for a rehab program.
(08:16):
So the rehab program wouldallow you to pay on your loan
for nine consecutive months andthen it comes out of default,
which would help your creditscore.
It puts you out of default.
You don't have that sting onyour credit that you're in
default because after ninemonths you have rehabbed your
loan.
So that's one of the optionsthat students can take who are
(08:38):
in default and you know defaulthappens for various reasons and
sometimes they show that therates are higher in default for
those who did not complete theirprogram of study.
Maybe they started and went twoyears and then decided not to,
or they went into an area thatthey realized they weren't
interested in and dropped outand that sort of thing.
So basically, only 38% ofstudent loans are currently
(09:02):
being paid.
The rest only 38% are current ontheir student loans Current the
rest of the percentage.
They're delinquent at somestage of delinquency.
So yeah, only 30%.
So that.
So students really need to lookat you know where they are and
even make plans, because you canalso ask for an income driven
(09:23):
repayment program.
So IDR is where if you'remaking $40,000, they'll base
your payment based on thatincome and then, as your income
increases, then you can increasethe payments that you're making
.
So that's one of the optionsthey can look at loan rehab or
the income-driven repaymentprogram.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So what if I don't have an income?
Or just what if I'm just barelymaking ends meet, which I
imagine that's going to be agood percentage of that 62%
that's not current on theirstudent loans.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Well there's some things like deferment
forbearance.
So maybe you're not working butyou went back to school because
maybe your first major waspsychology and you can't find
the job that you want inpsychology.
So now you're going to want tobe a social worker.
So you go back to school andonce you go back to school
you're considered eligible for adeferment.
So you can get an in-schooldeferment which would cease any
(10:17):
collection activities and itputs your loan in the safe place
until you graduate with yoursocial work degree.
Then you may want to get amaster's and a PhD and all of
that.
But another important thing tonote is if you're in default,
you can't borrow again untilthat default is resolved.
So you really don't want to gointo default because if you say
I need to go back to schoolbecause I need more training,
(10:38):
then you don't have the accessto not only loans but any
federal program.
So if you're in default on aloan, you can't even get a Pell
Grant, even though you're notworking, you have zero income
and you think, oh, I'll qualifyfor a full Pell, but that goes
away because you have a defaultstatus.
So it's important to look atthat.
(10:58):
But the federal government issaying, for those who are in
default.
They will give students anotice, at least 30 days notice,
for instance, before theygarnish your wages.
So it's not going to just comein.
You look at your paycheck atthe end of the month or biweekly
and say, well, what happened?
They will give you notice,which means they're giving you
notice, it's time.
They're giving you a time toprepare action plan and not just
(11:20):
put in the mail with the stackthat you don't want to look at.
But they're going tocommunicate with you, probably
by email, mail and varioussources, so that you can resolve
that delinquency before it getsto default to status or, if
you're already in default, goinglooking at garnishment.
Wow.
Another thing you can look at isa forbearance.
(11:40):
So a forbearance is a temporarystoppage, cessation of the
payment.
Interest continues to accruebecause it's like a deferment
Interest, doesn't a volunteerfor, say, the Peace Corps?
You're caring for someone whois severely ill, or maybe you're
(12:05):
severely ill and you can't work.
Those are all reasons that,with documentation, you can
qualify for a deferment.
On the other hand, forbearancemeans I just can't afford it
right now.
My mortgage went up.
I live in Louisiana.
The flood insurance is going up, my car insurance is increasing
.
I just don't have money to paymy loan.
So you can ask for aforbearance, which is usually 90
(12:26):
days, sometimes 120.
And then they'll evaluate yoursituation intermittently to find
out well, how are you doing?
Can you restart payment?
So forbearance is kind of likeputting the problem to the side,
but it's going to come back, soit doesn't go away Kicking it
down the road, but it's going tocatch up with it, but it keeps
you in a good status and thetiming just really seems to, you
(12:49):
know, be horrible for now.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
But of course, you know, I think it's been what,
over five years, that there wasa pause.
Yes, a long pause.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And I think some people got comfortable because
during the Biden administration.
And I think some people gotcomfortable because during the
Biden administration he proposedseveral plans the SAVE plan,
some loan forgiveness programsthat you know, if you have X
amount of dollars, you can getthe first 10,000 forgiven.
So a lot of people werecounting on that, thinking, oh,
I only owe 6,000.
(13:17):
So if he forgives the first10,000, I'm good.
So they're kind of, you know,out of sight, out of mind, and
then, as his administration cameto a close and that didn't
happen, and then now you havethe current Trump administration
, it's a total reversal of whatthe Biden administration
proposed and you're right acomplete, total reversal.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm not going to have to pay it at all.
I need to pay it tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Exactly Right, yeah, so borrowers are confused.
Now where do I go?
Where do I start?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, it really seems to be a confusing, kind of like
a little yo-yo and, like I said, to me it seems like, with the
economy where it is, it couldn'tcome at a worse time Anything
else borrowers should know orshould expect, you know, in
addition to the fact that nowthey need to figure out where
they are with their studentloans.
That's the, that's the mainthing Don't let you.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
If you, if you're close to being default, contact
your servicer and, like I said,you can go on the federal
student aid website and createan account and look at your
NSLDS history.
If you went to school 10 yearsago and you paid for eight years
and you still owe two moreyears, you know, and then and
then there are some programsthat are still out there to help
, like the public servicestudent loan forgiveness.
(14:26):
So if you're working for anonprofit, you're a teacher,
you're working for a state orfederal agency, if you didn't
get laid off from the federalagency, state or federal agency
you actually can apply forforgiveness from the public
service forgiveness program.
So some students have receivedwell, previous borrowers have
received their loans forgivenbased on that.
But I would advise them to getorganized.
(14:47):
That's the main thing.
Get organized.
Figure out you know I went toschool here this year.
I went there.
I didn't borrow this year, Iborrowed that year and see where
those loans are, because thereare servicers and some, like
Navient used to be a servicerfor Sally Mae.
Well, navient sold theirportfolio to others.
One is Aid Advantage.
(15:07):
So you have to figure out where.
Now they notified the borrowerswhen their loans were sold or
being serviced by someone else.
But you have to make sure yougo back and look that up so you
can figure out where you are andwhat you owe and take care of
that delinquency.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
And I know we talked a lot about the students because
they're the primary borrowers.
But what should parents know,especially if you've done a
student loan and you were acosigner, if you did a parent
plus loan?
What should parents be aware ofor what kind of conversation
should they be having with theirstudents?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Well, the parent did a plus loan.
That's strictly on the parents,so they won't come after the
student for the parent loanbecause the parents signed that
promissory note.
So for their students and nowis a good time because we're
approaching, you know,graduation season and students
are going to be going toorientation and they want to
live in luxury and having toborrow, and just you know, look
(15:58):
closely at you know, at thechoices that you're making or
considering, and see what thebest option is for you.
You know I talk to students alot and if you want to major in
education, you don't have to goto, say, harvard or Princeton to
be a teacher, but maybe you canstay home and go to a state
school or still get your teacherdegree because you're going to
still have to take the praxislike all the students.
(16:20):
And still get your teacherdegree because you're going to
still have to take the praxislike all the students.
And if you can master that andthen become a teacher, maybe you
want to go to a moreprestigious school to get a
master's or a PhD if that's yourgoal.
So look at the cost of choice,like where you want to go, what
it costs to go there.
Can your parents afford it?
You know those conversationsshould not start in 11th and
12th grade, when your student, Iwould say, is in middle school.
(16:46):
You know, parents, we want youto go to college.
What do you think you want todo?
Where do you think you want togo?
And then that's a good time tostart finding in the summer
there's a program at the schoolfor the summer two-week camp or
one-week camp and just see howthey do.
It teaches a lot.
If it's local, they can gothere and handle themselves
accordingly.
Or if it's farther away, somestudents may not want to be far
away from home.
You know they love family, butyou know I'm graduating, I can't
(17:07):
wait to get away.
And then once they go away, youknow you start hearing oh, I
miss home.
And I guess I'm talking aboutpersonal experience.
I had my daughter.
She went out of state her firstyear to Clark, atlanta and I
think she missed home more thanshe still doesn't acknowledge.
She'll be 35 soon.
But she came back home and wentto Southern University and she
(17:29):
flourished there because she wason campus so she was close
enough to home where she couldcome home if she wanted to.
But then she liked being aroundfamily and that.
So, students, you have to knowyour child and you know, not
just give into whatever whimsthey have and say, oh, I want to
do this, I want to do that, andthen when you look at it, is it
outside of what we had budgetedfor college?
(17:50):
Now, have we saved for collegewhich you could look at?
Did you have a stored savingsplan which Loss for those
administer, or 529?
Or do you have money savedsomewhere else?
Or is there a trust fund thatwe don't know about?
So you have to look at all ofthose options when you're
planning so that you don't getin a situation where someone who
did not plan they're facing agarnishment or not knowing how
(18:11):
much they owe and they're not inthe job that they want to be in
.
So there are a lot of things toconsider.
It's important when you startlooking at finance and
post-secondary education.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And I guess from personal experience too, it
seems like student loan.
The availability of studentloans has been pretty liberal in
the past.
Yes, do you anticipate thatthat may change, especially with
the Department of Education, ifit is eliminated and then those
choices are made by the state?
Do you anticipate that that maychange and maybe you won't have
(18:43):
as much flexibility to say,okay, my school costs $10,000,
but I'm going to borrow $50,000so that I can get this apartment
?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It's interesting that you mentioned that, because
there are some proposals outthere that would change a lot of
student aid.
One of them is eliminating thePLUS loan.
Not sure that's going to happen, but that's one of the things
they're looking at.
Another is increasing number ofhours required to get a full
Pell Grant.
Currently, if you're full-time12 hours it's universal you can
(19:15):
qualify for a full Pell grant.
They're looking at increasingthat to 15 hours.
So that would affect someprograms, definitely Not going
not taking the 15 hours, becausenow students take 12 hours
because of you know life, theywork or they're parents, or they
want to focus more on theirstudies, you know that sort of
thing.
So they would have to increasethat to 15 hours to get that.
(19:40):
And then they're looking atdecreasing some of the loan
limits so that students don'tend up borrowing $200,000 for a
law degree or a medical degree.
So those are some things thatthey are considering changing,
which would change the entirelandscape of how we see students
paying for college.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So there are definitely programs like dual
enrollment.
What else can students do orparents do now to maybe minimize
the cost when it's time fortheir student to go to college,
so that they don't even have toborrow money in the future?
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Dual enrollment is a great one and just here in
Louisiana, the Department ofEducation, the Board of Regents,
they want every high school tooffer public high schools over
at least one dual enrollmentprogram.
And now you're hearing theseprograms where students are
actually enrolled in high schooland in post-secondary
simultaneously.
There are students who aregraduating with their associate
(20:36):
degree as well as their highschool diploma.
They're halfway through college.
Halfway exactly because youneed 60 hours for an associate
degree, so you're definitelyhalfway through.
So you think of the costsavings of that, even if you
don't get the associate degree.
But if you have 12 hours,that's basically one semester of
college, 15 hours.
So that's important and they'reoffering more.
Department of Education isfunding some of this.
(20:58):
Some school districts help payfor dual enrollment.
We have a program like ToppsTech Early Start that pays for
dual enrollment.
Department of Education has asupplemental course allocation
that pays.
So there are various options.
And it used to be you had tohave a certain ACT score to do
dual enrollment, but now someprograms will allow you to have
a teacher recommendation.
(21:19):
Maybe you're not a great testtaker, but you do well in class.
The teacher says yeah, I thinkthis student can benefit from
having dual enrollment and thenthat can be another avenue to
get those courses in, becausethat's a big saving when you
think about it, particularly ifyou mean because you're in high
school, because that's a bigsaving when you think about it
(21:51):
particularly if you mean becauseyou're in high school.
So that's gaining a lot ofmomentum now and I think parents
are seeing the value ofencouraging their children to
pursue dual enrollment becauseof the benefits of savings later
on, particularly if the studentwants to do work in an area
that requires a master's or aspecialist degree or PhD, and
(22:13):
even things like physicaltherapy and occupational therapy
.
They're no longer bachelorprograms, those are doctoral
programs.
So you want to be a physicaltherapist?
You're looking at six to sevenyears because you finish with
your doctoral degree in physicaltherapy or occupational therapy
.
So if you're looking atsomething that requires
additional, additional degreebeyond a bachelor's degree,
(22:36):
definitely do the role would bea way to look at trying to fund
that.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So one last thing.
So we know the payment pausereally was kind of spearheaded
because of all the trauma fromCOVID and so before that
happened we were responsible,students were responsible for
student loan payments.
Is this new collection practiceany different than what
happened before there was apayment pause?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Well, not the default .
Basically, if you weredelinquent 270 days you went
into default.
So I think you know that's notdifferent.
So there's not anything harshergoing on now with the default.
But possibly pursuinggarnishment may be a little bit
more aggressive, because ifyou're in default they can do
(23:20):
and if they're going to behiring collection agencies to
pursue the garnishment and thatsort of thing, that's probably a
little bit more aggressive.
But default has always been 270days.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
So we had plenty of people with student loan
defaults.
It's just maybe they weren't asaggressive going after those
students.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And now it sounds like they're out there and some
of the provisions have changed.
Because before, when you werein default, you could lose your
professional license.
So if you were an attorney, youcould not get your bar license
renewed.
If you were a doctor, a nurse,you know, a licensed esthetician
.
But they started thinking ifyou can't work, then you
definitely can't pay, exactly.
So now they've removed thatprovision where they don't
(23:59):
suspend your license if you'rein default, because they want
you to be able to work to paythe money back.
And they're saying thatstudents borrowed the money and
it's going to help our economyonce students start paying it
back.
So it's their responsibility,it's not the government.
When you sign the promissorynote and I'm just quoting what's
their responsibility.
It's not the government whenyou sign the promissory note,
and I'm just quoting what's beensaid.
When you sign the promissorynote, you said that you would
(24:20):
repay these funds and they wantstudents to repay that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
You heard it from the messenger and I would say it's
probably worth repeating again.
How can students go and checktheir status to see if they are
in default?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Go to the federal student aid website, which is
student aid S-T-U-D-E-N-T-A-I-D,dot gov, and then they can look
up student loans and thencreate an account for the
National Student Loan Directdata system and they can look at
all of their financial aidhistory, not just loans, and
then see Because also it willtell them if you want to go back
(24:57):
to school, you're not indefault, do you still qualify
for Pell?
All of that information willsee if you've exhausted Pell
eligibility, because you onlycan get Pell for up to six years
.
So if you've exhausted that,then what else is available?
To go back to school to getadditional credentials or
education.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
All right, deborah, it seems like this is going to
be to continue.
We'll have to see what otherchanges come, but thank you so
much for providing this update.
I know that there are a lot ofstudents that are concerned that
need this information, so nowyou know what action you need to
take next.
Thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It's time for Blueprint Building Blocks Small
changes that lead to bigfinancial wins.
Let's stack up for success.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Check your student loan status.
Remember visit studentaidgov toreview your student loan
information so that you can findout what your status is.
If you're in default, act now.
Contact your student loanservicer or the default
resolution group immediately toexplore rehabilitation or
(26:04):
consolidation options and thenprotect your finances.
Understand that default canlead to wage garnishment, tax
refund, seizure and creditdamage.
Act early to prevent deeperfinancial harm.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building
Blocks.
Stay on track with yourfinancial journey.
Subscribe to the Money Matterspodcast and visit
neighborsfcuorg slash financialwellness for more tools to help
you build a strong financialfuture.
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you want.
Now here is your host, ms KimChapman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome back to another edition of Money Matters
.
Today we're going to talk aboutsomething that has been really
a hot topic in the news studentloans.
So our returning guest, mrDeborah Paul I guess it's the
early day, early day from theLouisiana Office of Student
Financial Assistance is going tosee if she can get us up to
(00:34):
speed in terms of what's beengoing on.
There's been a lot of news, alot of changes, especially with
the change in administration.
So welcome back, deborah.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Thank you, glad to be back to help out.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Look, I can always count on her to come by and give
us some good information,whether it's for the podcast or
even my kids that are in college, and so she's got a wealth of
information.
So hopefully those of you thatare in college listening, or if
you're the parents listening andyou're wondering what's going
to happen, especially if you'rea co-sign on those student loans
, you know we want to talk aboutwhat's been happening.
(01:06):
So I guess I want to dive intoit and just talk about one of
the first changes that Iremember happening was them
saying they were going to doaway with the Department of
Education.
Can you explain what thatactually means and how that
impacts consumers?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, the current administration has vowed to
dismantle the Department ofEducation.
They've already laid off overhalf of the staff.
Nationwide Department ofEducation and federal student
aid is a component of Departmentof Education.
So if that happens it doesrequire congressional approval.
Actually, 60 votes from theSenate would be required to get
(01:44):
rid of the Department ofEducation.
And, looking back and doingsome research, it's only been in
existence for 45 years beforeit was handled by other things.
So basically, federal studentaid would be handled by the
Treasury Department, theservices for students elementary
and post-secondary studentswould be handled by the
Department of Health and HumanServices, and then Title IX, the
(02:07):
civil rights component, wouldbe held by the Department of
Justice.
So there are several bills outin Congress now talking about
dismantling it.
Then on the other end they'retrying to keep it.
So we'll see what happens as itgoes through the legislative
process.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
So are there any advantages to the average
consumer if it's dismantled?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, they want to give states more authority to do
what they need to do at thatlevel.
So I guess that would go backto 45 years ago what was
happening in the Department ofEd, and they'll be giving out
grants to states to administerthose programs.
But there's a lot of talk aboutstudents with disabilities
being maybe left out or notgetting the full room of
services that they need becausethere's no more US Department of
(02:51):
Education.
So we'll see how that ends up.
But they have plans to transferthe components to different
agencies and they're saying it'sgoing to be a seamless transfer
of service.
One of the bills I saw withinthe Department of Education as
we now know it, at the end ofDecember 2026.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So that's a year and a half from now.
Basically, oh, wow.
So I guess it's kind of a to becontinued and a wait and see.
Yeah, what happens, right.
So, of course, with everythingelse is going on there's tariffs
, there's inflation, so manythings are going up and then it
seemed like a boom was the lordin the news because they
announced that hey, all you guysthat have been on student loan
pause.
If your student loans are indefault, that time is over.
(03:33):
If your student loans indefault, they're going to start
climbing down and they're goingto start collection practices.
So first let's talk about whatdefines what makes your student
loan be in default.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
If you have not paid on your loan in 270 days, that
basically means you're indefault.
So they can, at that point,start collection.
And then, like you said in thenews, all of this new activity
starts on Monday, may 5th, soit's time for borrowers to
beware.
So if you have not paid on yourloan in 270 days, it's
(04:04):
considered to be in default.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
All right.
So somebody is listening andsaying I have a student loan.
I don't know if I've paid on it.
Has it been 200 days?
Has it been 270 days?
How can they figure out whattheir status is?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
They can contact a federal student aid, which is on
the website.
There's federal student aid andyou can log in, create an
account and there's a portalcalled National Direct Student
Loan Data System NSLDS.
So everybody who's everreceived any type of federal aid
Pell Grant, selg Grant, federalWork, study, student loans it's
(04:39):
all in that database.
You have to create an accountand the information is yours so
you can look and see where youborrowed, how much you borrowed,
what your interest rate was,what the status is, who your
servicer is, because the FederalDepartment of Education has
servicers that basically collecton the loans for people who are
(04:59):
in default.
So that's the first thing to goin there and see, and there are
a lot of advocacy groups outthere that are helping students
to find out where there's, whattheir status is, so that they
don't go into default.
If they're in default, what arethe options that they can go
from there.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
All right.
So let's talk a little bitabout what the real impact is If
your student loan is defaulted.
How does that impact yourcredit or anything else?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
It's defaulted serious.
It impacts, as you said, yourcredit score, which may stop you
from even getting a job or theability to buy a house or even
rent an apartment.
If you have a low credit score,it shows that you're not maybe
responsible.
Some insurance companies runyour credit report before they
decide to insure you.
(05:45):
Credit is king, yeah, sobasically on that side.
But then also they couldgarnish your wages, which is
severe, and the federalgovernment can garnish up to 15%
of your income if you're indefault.
So that could be 15%.
That can be significantdepending on where your income
is.
Could be that's 15, that can besignificant, depending on where
(06:07):
your income is.
Also, um, there are someprovisions where people who
receive federal benefits likesocial security, maybe even
veterans benefits, that couldpossibly be garnished if someone
is in default because they havedisposal, they have access to
all of your information.
So they know what you'regetting, when you're getting it,
where it's coming from.
You can't hide exactly, great,yeah, so they know what you're
getting, when you're getting it,where it's coming from, can't
hide, you can't hide Exactly.
Great, yeah, so they know allyour information.
So it's best to try to resolvethe delinquency prior to going
(06:33):
to default, because you knowincome tax returns federal and
state could be seized Bothfederal and state.
They could be seized as far asdefault is concerned.
So there are a lot of badthings that happen when you go
into default.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So, and which loans is it applied to?
Is it all any type of studentloan?
Is it just a federal studentloan?
Would there are private studentloans, well?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
the federal.
What they're going to startcollections on ramping down are
the federal subsidized andunsubsidized direct student
loans.
Now some students do borrowfrom do borrow private loans,
thank you.
And once they bought themaximum from the federal direct,
(07:20):
subsidized and unsubsidizedloan programs they needed
additional funds so they went tothe private loan sector.
That's separate so they mayhave their own collection
practices that may ramp up alsothe parent loan.
A parent who received a parentloan for their son or daughter
to go to school.
They could also be in defaulton a parent loan and then it
(07:40):
would start those collectionpractices against them.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
So if I look and I check and I see that my student
loan is in default, after I kindof collect myself after
panicking, what should I dofirst?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Like you said, collect yourself.
That's the first thing.
So there's several things.
So if your loan is 90 daysdelinquent, you know you can
usually resolve that prettyeasily, and then 91 to 180 days
is the late stage and then 270is default.
But you can look at trying torehabilitate your loan.
So if you are in default youcan ask for a rehab program.
(08:16):
So the rehab program wouldallow you to pay on your loan
for nine consecutive months andthen it comes out of default,
which would help your creditscore.
It puts you out of default.
You don't have that sting onyour credit that you're in
default because after ninemonths you have rehabbed your
loan.
So that's one of the optionsthat students can take who are
(08:38):
in default and you know defaulthappens for various reasons and
sometimes they show that therates are higher in default for
those who did not complete theirprogram of study.
Maybe they started and went twoyears and then decided not to,
or they went into an area thatthey realized they weren't
interested in and dropped outand that sort of thing.
So basically, only 38% ofstudent loans are currently
(09:02):
being paid.
The rest only 38% are current ontheir student loans Current the
rest of the percentage.
They're delinquent at somestage of delinquency.
So yeah, only 30%.
So that.
So students really need to lookat you know where they are and
even make plans, because you canalso ask for an income driven
(09:23):
repayment program.
So IDR is where if you'remaking $40,000, they'll base
your payment based on thatincome and then, as your income
increases, then you can increasethe payments that you're making
.
So that's one of the optionsthey can look at loan rehab or
the income-driven repaymentprogram.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So what if I don't have an income?
Or just what if I'm just barelymaking ends meet, which I
imagine that's going to be agood percentage of that 62%
that's not current on theirstudent loans.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Well there's some things like deferment
forbearance.
So maybe you're not working butyou went back to school because
maybe your first major waspsychology and you can't find
the job that you want inpsychology.
So now you're going to want tobe a social worker.
So you go back to school andonce you go back to school
you're considered eligible for adeferment.
So you can get an in-schooldeferment which would cease any
(10:17):
collection activities and itputs your loan in the safe place
until you graduate with yoursocial work degree.
Then you may want to get amaster's and a PhD and all of
that.
But another important thing tonote is if you're in default,
you can't borrow again untilthat default is resolved.
So you really don't want to gointo default because if you say
I need to go back to schoolbecause I need more training,
(10:38):
then you don't have the accessto not only loans but any
federal program.
So if you're in default on aloan, you can't even get a Pell
Grant, even though you're notworking, you have zero income
and you think, oh, I'll qualifyfor a full Pell, but that goes
away because you have a defaultstatus.
So it's important to look atthat.
(10:58):
But the federal government issaying, for those who are in
default.
They will give students anotice, at least 30 days notice,
for instance, before theygarnish your wages.
So it's not going to just comein.
You look at your paycheck atthe end of the month or biweekly
and say, well, what happened?
They will give you notice,which means they're giving you
notice, it's time.
They're giving you a time toprepare action plan and not just
(11:20):
put in the mail with the stackthat you don't want to look at.
But they're going tocommunicate with you, probably
by email, mail and varioussources, so that you can resolve
that delinquency before it getsto default to status or, if
you're already in default, goinglooking at garnishment.
Wow.
Another thing you can look at isa forbearance.
(11:40):
So a forbearance is a temporarystoppage, cessation of the
payment.
Interest continues to accruebecause it's like a deferment
Interest, doesn't a volunteerfor, say, the Peace Corps?
You're caring for someone whois severely ill, or maybe you're
(12:05):
severely ill and you can't work.
Those are all reasons that,with documentation, you can
qualify for a deferment.
On the other hand, forbearancemeans I just can't afford it
right now.
My mortgage went up.
I live in Louisiana.
The flood insurance is going up, my car insurance is increasing
.
I just don't have money to paymy loan.
So you can ask for aforbearance, which is usually 90
(12:26):
days, sometimes 120.
And then they'll evaluate yoursituation intermittently to find
out well, how are you doing?
Can you restart payment?
So forbearance is kind of likeputting the problem to the side,
but it's going to come back, soit doesn't go away Kicking it
down the road, but it's going tocatch up with it, but it keeps
you in a good status and thetiming just really seems to, you
(12:49):
know, be horrible for now.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
But of course, you know, I think it's been what,
over five years, that there wasa pause.
Yes, a long pause.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And I think some people got comfortable because
during the Biden administration.
And I think some people gotcomfortable because during the
Biden administration he proposedseveral plans the SAVE plan,
some loan forgiveness programsthat you know, if you have X
amount of dollars, you can getthe first 10,000 forgiven.
So a lot of people werecounting on that, thinking, oh,
I only owe 6,000.
(13:17):
So if he forgives the first10,000, I'm good.
So they're kind of, you know,out of sight, out of mind, and
then, as his administration cameto a close and that didn't
happen, and then now you havethe current Trump administration
, it's a total reversal of whatthe Biden administration
proposed and you're right acomplete, total reversal.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm not going to have to pay it at all.
I need to pay it tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Exactly Right, yeah, so borrowers are confused.
Now where do I go?
Where do I start?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, it really seems to be a confusing, kind of like
a little yo-yo and, like I said, to me it seems like, with the
economy where it is, it couldn'tcome at a worse time Anything
else borrowers should know orshould expect, you know, in
addition to the fact that nowthey need to figure out where
they are with their studentloans.
That's the, that's the mainthing Don't let you.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
If you, if you're close to being default, contact
your servicer and, like I said,you can go on the federal
student aid website and createan account and look at your
NSLDS history.
If you went to school 10 yearsago and you paid for eight years
and you still owe two moreyears, you know, and then and
then there are some programsthat are still out there to help
, like the public servicestudent loan forgiveness.
(14:26):
So if you're working for anonprofit, you're a teacher,
you're working for a state orfederal agency, if you didn't
get laid off from the federalagency, state or federal agency
you actually can apply forforgiveness from the public
service forgiveness program.
So some students have receivedwell, previous borrowers have
received their loans forgivenbased on that.
But I would advise them to getorganized.
(14:47):
That's the main thing.
Get organized.
Figure out you know I went toschool here this year.
I went there.
I didn't borrow this year, Iborrowed that year and see where
those loans are, because thereare servicers and some, like
Navient used to be a servicerfor Sally Mae.
Well, navient sold theirportfolio to others.
One is Aid Advantage.
(15:07):
So you have to figure out where.
Now they notified the borrowerswhen their loans were sold or
being serviced by someone else.
But you have to make sure yougo back and look that up so you
can figure out where you are andwhat you owe and take care of
that delinquency.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
And I know we talked a lot about the students because
they're the primary borrowers.
But what should parents know,especially if you've done a
student loan and you were acosigner, if you did a parent
plus loan?
What should parents be aware ofor what kind of conversation
should they be having with theirstudents?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Well, the parent did a plus loan.
That's strictly on the parents,so they won't come after the
student for the parent loanbecause the parents signed that
promissory note.
So for their students and nowis a good time because we're
approaching, you know,graduation season and students
are going to be going toorientation and they want to
live in luxury and having toborrow, and just you know, look
(15:58):
closely at you know, at thechoices that you're making or
considering, and see what thebest option is for you.
You know I talk to students alot and if you want to major in
education, you don't have to goto, say, harvard or Princeton to
be a teacher, but maybe you canstay home and go to a state
school or still get your teacherdegree because you're going to
still have to take the praxislike all the students.
(16:20):
And still get your teacherdegree because you're going to
still have to take the praxislike all the students.
And if you can master that andthen become a teacher, maybe you
want to go to a moreprestigious school to get a
master's or a PhD if that's yourgoal.
So look at the cost of choice,like where you want to go, what
it costs to go there.
Can your parents afford it?
You know those conversationsshould not start in 11th and
12th grade, when your student, Iwould say, is in middle school.
(16:46):
You know, parents, we want youto go to college.
What do you think you want todo?
Where do you think you want togo?
And then that's a good time tostart finding in the summer
there's a program at the schoolfor the summer two-week camp or
one-week camp and just see howthey do.
It teaches a lot.
If it's local, they can gothere and handle themselves
accordingly.
Or if it's farther away, somestudents may not want to be far
away from home.
You know they love family, butyou know I'm graduating, I can't
(17:07):
wait to get away.
And then once they go away, youknow you start hearing oh, I
miss home.
And I guess I'm talking aboutpersonal experience.
I had my daughter.
She went out of state her firstyear to Clark, atlanta and I
think she missed home more thanshe still doesn't acknowledge.
She'll be 35 soon.
But she came back home and wentto Southern University and she
(17:29):
flourished there because she wason campus so she was close
enough to home where she couldcome home if she wanted to.
But then she liked being aroundfamily and that.
So, students, you have to knowyour child and you know, not
just give into whatever whimsthey have and say, oh, I want to
do this, I want to do that, andthen when you look at it, is it
outside of what we had budgetedfor college?
(17:50):
Now, have we saved for collegewhich you could look at?
Did you have a stored savingsplan which Loss for those
administer, or 529?
Or do you have money savedsomewhere else?
Or is there a trust fund thatwe don't know about?
So you have to look at all ofthose options when you're
planning so that you don't getin a situation where someone who
did not plan they're facing agarnishment or not knowing how
(18:11):
much they owe and they're not inthe job that they want to be in
.
So there are a lot of things toconsider.
It's important when you startlooking at finance and
post-secondary education.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And I guess from personal experience too, it
seems like student loan.
The availability of studentloans has been pretty liberal in
the past.
Yes, do you anticipate thatthat may change, especially with
the Department of Education, ifit is eliminated and then those
choices are made by the state?
Do you anticipate that that maychange and maybe you won't have
(18:43):
as much flexibility to say,okay, my school costs $10,000,
but I'm going to borrow $50,000so that I can get this apartment
?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It's interesting that you mentioned that, because
there are some proposals outthere that would change a lot of
student aid.
One of them is eliminating thePLUS loan.
Not sure that's going to happen, but that's one of the things
they're looking at.
Another is increasing number ofhours required to get a full
Pell Grant.
Currently, if you're full-time12 hours it's universal you can
(19:15):
qualify for a full Pell grant.
They're looking at increasingthat to 15 hours.
So that would affect someprograms, definitely Not going
not taking the 15 hours, becausenow students take 12 hours
because of you know life, theywork or they're parents, or they
want to focus more on theirstudies, you know that sort of
thing.
So they would have to increasethat to 15 hours to get that.
(19:40):
And then they're looking atdecreasing some of the loan
limits so that students don'tend up borrowing $200,000 for a
law degree or a medical degree.
So those are some things thatthey are considering changing,
which would change the entirelandscape of how we see students
paying for college.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So there are definitely programs like dual
enrollment.
What else can students do orparents do now to maybe minimize
the cost when it's time fortheir student to go to college,
so that they don't even have toborrow money in the future?
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Dual enrollment is a great one and just here in
Louisiana, the Department ofEducation, the Board of Regents,
they want every high school tooffer public high schools over
at least one dual enrollmentprogram.
And now you're hearing theseprograms where students are
actually enrolled in high schooland in post-secondary
simultaneously.
There are students who aregraduating with their associate
(20:36):
degree as well as their highschool diploma.
They're halfway through college.
Halfway exactly because youneed 60 hours for an associate
degree, so you're definitelyhalfway through.
So you think of the costsavings of that, even if you
don't get the associate degree.
But if you have 12 hours,that's basically one semester of
college, 15 hours.
So that's important and they'reoffering more.
Department of Education isfunding some of this.
(20:58):
Some school districts help payfor dual enrollment.
We have a program like ToppsTech Early Start that pays for
dual enrollment.
Department of Education has asupplemental course allocation
that pays.
So there are various options.
And it used to be you had tohave a certain ACT score to do
dual enrollment, but now someprograms will allow you to have
a teacher recommendation.
(21:19):
Maybe you're not a great testtaker, but you do well in class.
The teacher says yeah, I thinkthis student can benefit from
having dual enrollment and thenthat can be another avenue to
get those courses in, becausethat's a big saving when you
think about it, particularly ifyou mean because you're in high
school, because that's a bigsaving when you think about it
(21:51):
particularly if you mean becauseyou're in high school.
So that's gaining a lot ofmomentum now and I think parents
are seeing the value ofencouraging their children to
pursue dual enrollment becauseof the benefits of savings later
on, particularly if the studentwants to do work in an area
that requires a master's or aspecialist degree or PhD, and
(22:13):
even things like physicaltherapy and occupational therapy
.
They're no longer bachelorprograms, those are doctoral
programs.
So you want to be a physicaltherapist?
You're looking at six to sevenyears because you finish with
your doctoral degree in physicaltherapy or occupational therapy
.
So if you're looking atsomething that requires
additional, additional degreebeyond a bachelor's degree,
(22:36):
definitely do the role would bea way to look at trying to fund
that.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So one last thing.
So we know the payment pausereally was kind of spearheaded
because of all the trauma fromCOVID and so before that
happened we were responsible,students were responsible for
student loan payments.
Is this new collection practiceany different than what
happened before there was apayment pause?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Well, not the default .
Basically, if you weredelinquent 270 days you went
into default.
So I think you know that's notdifferent.
So there's not anything harshergoing on now with the default.
But possibly pursuinggarnishment may be a little bit
more aggressive, because ifyou're in default they can do
(23:20):
and if they're going to behiring collection agencies to
pursue the garnishment and thatsort of thing, that's probably a
little bit more aggressive.
But default has always been 270days.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
So we had plenty of people with student loan
defaults.
It's just maybe they weren't asaggressive going after those
students.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And now it sounds like they're out there and some
of the provisions have changed.
Because before, when you werein default, you could lose your
professional license.
So if you were an attorney, youcould not get your bar license
renewed.
If you were a doctor, a nurse,you know, a licensed esthetician
.
But they started thinking ifyou can't work, then you
definitely can't pay, exactly.
So now they've removed thatprovision where they don't
(23:59):
suspend your license if you'rein default, because they want
you to be able to work to paythe money back.
And they're saying thatstudents borrowed the money and
it's going to help our economyonce students start paying it
back.
So it's their responsibility,it's not the government.
When you sign the promissorynote and I'm just quoting what's
their responsibility.
It's not the government whenyou sign the promissory note,
and I'm just quoting what's beensaid.
When you sign the promissorynote, you said that you would
(24:20):
repay these funds and they wantstudents to repay that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
You heard it from the messenger and I would say it's
probably worth repeating again.
How can students go and checktheir status to see if they are
in default?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Go to the federal student aid website, which is
student aid S-T-U-D-E-N-T-A-I-D,dot gov, and then they can look
up student loans and thencreate an account for the
National Student Loan Directdata system and they can look at
all of their financial aidhistory, not just loans, and
then see Because also it willtell them if you want to go back
(24:57):
to school, you're not indefault, do you still qualify
for Pell?
All of that information willsee if you've exhausted Pell
eligibility, because you onlycan get Pell for up to six years
.
So if you've exhausted that,then what else is available?
To go back to school to getadditional credentials or
education.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
All right, deborah, it seems like this is going to
be to continue.
We'll have to see what otherchanges come, but thank you so
much for providing this update.
I know that there are a lot ofstudents that are concerned that
need this information, so nowyou know what action you need to
take next.
Thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It's time for Blueprint Building Blocks Small
changes that lead to bigfinancial wins.
Let's stack up for success.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Check your student loan status.
Remember visit studentaidgov toreview your student loan
information so that you can findout what your status is.
If you're in default, act now.
Contact your student loanservicer or the default
resolution group immediately toexplore rehabilitation or
(26:04):
consolidation options and thenprotect your finances.
Understand that default canlead to wage garnishment, tax
refund, seizure and creditdamage.
Act early to prevent deeperfinancial harm.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building
Blocks.
Stay on track with yourfinancial journey.
Subscribe to the Money Matterspodcast and visit
neighborsfcuorg slash financialwellness for more tools to help
you build a strong financialfuture.
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