Student Loan Relief
The U.S. Education Department directed all student loan servicers to grant at least 60 days of relief to any borrower who requests it. They must contact their loan servicer online or by phone. Unfortunately, this is not guaranteed to help those who are making payments in order to seek Public Service Loan Forgiveness or those already enrolled in a repayment plan.
NEA has held several webinars to explain what the CARES Act, a COVID-19 relief law, means to those who have student debt. The changes in the relief law include:
- A suspension of interest and payments for borrowers who have federal student loans from March 13, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2020, with no interest accrual during this period. The suspension should have taken effect on April 10.
- Commercially-held loans and private loans are not included in the suspension.
- The six monhts of suspended payments will count as payments toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but you must still meet the other requirements: you must have Direct Loans, be on a qualifying repayment plan prior to March 13, and continue to work full time in public service.
- Under the CARES Act, if your school year is interrupted because of COVID-19, the partial year of work is treated as a full year for purposes of the Teach Grants and Teacher Loan Forgiveness.
During the suspension, you should consider enrolling in or recertifying in an income-drive repayment plan. The NEA Student Loan Forgiveness Navigator powered by Savi can help you enroll in an income-driven repayment plan. Go to crisishelp-neamb.bysavi.com.