DENVER — In about a month, federal student loans will start gaining interest. A few weeks after that, millions of borrowers will have to make a student loan payment for the first time in three years.
Employees in the financial aid office at Metropolitan State University of Denver have watched the back-and-forth of student loan forgiveness and are making sure students understand how the latest updates impact them.
Kerline Eglaus, Executive Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships, said about 30% of their students are on financial aid.
"If you're not engaged into this process you will be surprised, and we don't want our students or any of the campus community to be surprised," Eglaus said.
Eglaus is a student loan borrower herself. She said it's been a challenge to keep up with all the changes surrounding student loan repayment. She and her office have been working to help students understand what they are agreeing to when they sign the dotted line.
"Whether the loans were forgiven or not, the most important process was preparing our students for budgeting, preparing our students to have the tools and resources that they need to make informed decisions," she said.
As Eglaus prepares to educate students on the repayment process, other borrowers from a different college, not affiliated with MSU Denver, are learning they will no longer have to pay.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced they will wipe away $130 million in student debt from more than 7,000 students that attended CollegeAmerica campuses in Colorado. The department said the colleges have since closed down.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said CollegeAmerica's parent company misrepresented the salary and employment rates for its graduates.
"The underlying facts are clear. Students were deceived. Students were wronged. Today's critical announcement was a step towards justice and a step towards helping these student borrowers really get their lives back," Weiser said. "By giving them debt relief right now we’re giving them a new opportunity, a new lease on life."
The department will begin notifying eligible borrowers in August that their loans have been forgiven. Any federal loan payments those people made will be refunded.
As for those keeping an eye on repayment at MSU Denver, Eglaus encouraged them to continue to be involved in the student loan process. She shared five tips for those borrowers to keep in mind:
- Get organized.
- Start contacting your lender as soon as possible.
- Explore different repayment options.
- Make sure you're contacting different lenders to see if you can consolidate.
- Don't wait until the last minute .
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