The American dream for many families is to see their child grow up and go to college, so they can get a good paying steady and successful job when they graduate. Unfortunately these days college is so expensive, that parents who take loans out to pay for their children’s education, will be paying those loans with no end in sight, for years to come.
Not only has the cost of tuition gone up alarmingly high, but interest rates on student loans have become unreasonable, making it almost impossible to pay off the student loans if parents only make the minimum payment each month. The monthly payments are also usually very high and make it impossible for many families to pay more than the minimum at any time.
Depending on the situation, there are things parents can do to try to help their situation:
1. Pay the interest while it is accruing and your child is still a student!
Most families take out loans and don’t think about them until their student has graduated from college. This makes it so parents have to start paying off the high interest rates and the principal all at once! Paying ahead and making the interest payments while the student is still in school, will stop the interest from collecting while he/she is still in school. This takes a lot of money off the final number, and the amount you will be paying will end up being lower, because only the principal amount will collect until the student graduates.
2. Negotiate the payment amount:
If you have federal loans, unfortunately parents can’t consolidate, but you they call and negotiate their monthly payment. If the amount banks are asking for is more than parents can afford, they will often work with families to bring the payment down to a reasonable number as long as the loan is in good standing.
3. Apply for a deferment:
If the payments come in a parents just can’t pay them, it is a better choice to apply for a deferment, than it is to let it go into collections. This will delay the payments without hurting your credit and you won’t start to get harassing calls from debt collectors.
* If parents have private loans and they have gone into collections the amount can be negotiated into a new settlement amount. Parents can call the debt collectors directly to negotiate their debt amount and set up a new smaller payment. If they don’t feel comfortable negotiating themselves, there are companies who can help and do the negotiating. There is always an answer to help families get out of debt depending on their situations.