Student loans causing big problems
People having troubles paying after graduation
Updated: Thursday, 26 Feb 2009, 12:03 AM EST
Published : Thursday, 26 Feb 2009, 12:00 AM EST
Published : Thursday, 26 Feb 2009, 12:00 AM EST
(WWLP) - It's a multi-billion dollar problem, and some think President Obama should use some of the bailout money to fix it.
Some people have student loan debt running into the tens of thousands. In some cases, over six figures! And that price-tag can actually climb even higher the longer it takes to pay off the balance.
These days, just paying the rent, mortgage and utility bills is difficult, let alone dealing with the added burden of exhorbitant student loan bills after graduation.
Tom Brennan of Wilbraham: "I had student loans when we went to college, and I went to grad school and it took us forever, we never thought we could get those loans paid off...and now I have two kids in college and we're looking at the same battle."
Loan experts say if you choose to put off payments for financial reasons, make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. "Deferment" is an option only for a limited time and will allow you delay payments without interest. "Forbearance" allows graduates to hold-off paying for a longer period of time, but interest continues to accrue exponentially.
People say it wasn't the original cost of their student loan burden that was such a problem, it was when they weren't able to make the full payments required of them that they watched their student loan debt balloon out of control, and in some cases, it even affected their credit.
Thavy Chain of Springfield has that issue. "When we were late it just affected our credit when we wanted to buy a house. It was 4000 at one school and then it's been 3 years and it's up to like 7000 now and it was only like 5.5 percent and I don't know why it keeps going up."
Some people say they simply can't afford to make the entire payment, and making only partial payments is costing them big bucks.
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