kelsmom

If you borrow money to pay for college, I cannot stress to you the importance of understanding that you will be responsible for repaying your loans. If, when it is time for repayment, you cannot afford the payments, DO NOT IGNORE THE FACT THAT YOU MUST MAKE ARRANGEMENTS WITH YOUR SERVICER!!!!!! There are several repayment options, and there is even a hardship deferment option. The bottom line is, you are going to have to contact your servicer to make some type of repayment arrangement.

Please read these excellent articles in today's Detroit Free Press: Hundreds in Michigan sued over thousands that they owe in delinquent student loans | Michigan news | Detroit Free Press | freep.com and Beware, metro Detroit: The feds are out -- and looking for payback on late student loans | Michigan news | Detroit Free Press | freep.com (there are a couple other good related reads in today's edition). The ramifications of ignoring your responsibility are clearly spelled out in the articles.

I take issue with the student who states that he was not aware of his repayment options. He was absolutely made aware of his repayment options through exit counseling, which his school told him he must do. Perhaps he ignored the requirement ... but that does not mean no one told him. It means he chose to ignore his responsibilities. Trying to pass off the responsibility to someone else is sad.

Please, students: If you borrow, monitor your borrowing at National Student Loan Data System for Students. Make sure your loan amounts are correct (yes, sometimes mistakes happen - and it is YOUR money, so watch it carefully). Keep your expenses as low as possible (live within a budget) so that you only borrow what you really need to borrow. When you graduate, pay very careful attention to your exit counseling. READ AND UNDERSTAND ... if you have questions, call the number & ASK for clarification. Above all, if it is difficult to repay your loans, DO NOT IGNORE THEM. Call you servicer and discuss your repayment options.

lookingforward

Bumping this one.

romanigypsyeyes

This needs to be stickied.

4kidsdad

Also to know how much is too much.

catie33

People also need to know that student loan debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. It will follow you forever.

choryphee

>>READ AND UNDERSTAND ... if you have questions, call the number & ASK for clarification. <<

Co-signed, times a thousand.

I'm a college financial aid administrator. Our single biggest challenge with our students is getting past their fear of initiating contact with authority figures/agencies--or, in the case of the privileged students, getting past their certainty that if they ask any questions, it means that somewhere down the line someone is going to make them do some work.

Pretty much every piece of correspondence we send to any student (electronic, paper, web page, you name it) now contains a variation on the phrase "If you choose not to read this communication, you will still be held responsible for its contents". We're fighting an ongoing battle, here, against the "If I didn't know it, I can't be held responsible for it" paradigm.

Is this generational? I'm in my late 30s and when I was growing up we were never allowed to get away with this stuff.

kelsmom

I am also a financial aid administrator, and I once read an email trail between a coworker and a student regarding the student's insistence that "no one told me" about the terms of her loans. It would have been humorous - a la Abbott & Costello - if it were not so very sad. The student basically said that the school was responsible for her not paying attention to ... entrance counseling, disclosure, MPN, etc., etc. I truly do not get it.

contankerous

Bumping this thread.