» GRAD Plus http://www.christiancollegeparents.org Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:36:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Income Based Repayment for Federal Student Loans http://www.christiancollegeparents.org/2009/income-based-repayment-for-federal-student-loans/ http://www.christiancollegeparents.org/2009/income-based-repayment-for-federal-student-loans/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:49:00 +0000 admin http://www.christiancollegeparents.org/?p=20 There’s a new program for government college loans that gives students with big college debt some relief. It is based on your income and family size, so that if you have a large debt and a small salary, your payments are adjusted taking your family size into consideration as well. This new program, appropriately called Income Based Repayment (IBR), is available now for people who have loans made under either the William D. Ford Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program or the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program.  These include all Direct and FFEL loans EXCEPT Parents PLUS and consolidation loans used to repay Parent PLUS loans and loans in default.  Although your lender will make the calculations to determine a new payment, you can find out if you are eligible and approximately how much difference this program would make on your monthly payment by going to the government’s IBR Calculator.

To use the IBR Calculator you will need to know your estimated adjusted gross income, the amount that you owed on your eligible federal student loans when you entered repayment, the estimated average interest rate on your eligible federal student loan, and your family size. You plug these figures into the IBR Calculator, and this gives you the payment amount your would pay on your government student aid through the Income Based Repayment plan. If that payment is lower than the monthly payment under a 10-year standard repayment plan, then you are eligible to repay your loans under IBR.

During this time of economic hardship and mounting student debt, this federal student loan program could be a lifesaver for many students and their families. Check it out at the Federal Student Aid website.

Blessings,
Bonnie

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