PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The federal government recently extended student loan relief to Jan. 31, 2022.
The Education Department is emphasizing that this would be the last extension, so what does this mean for recent college graduates?
Daryl Dagit, a market manager and financial advisor for Savant Wealth Management in Peoria, said there is a reason for the date being pushed back.
“With the COVID relief and with everything going on, unemployment’s a little high, so they decided to give a reprieve to pay back student loans and extended that to basically Jan. 31, so your first payment would be due Feb. 1 of 2022,” said Dagit.
Dagit said the best way to prepare for paying off student debt is to start planning now and Scott Seibring, the director of financial aid at Illinois Wesleyan University, agrees.
Seibring said, “If you’re struggling, take advantage of this, but if not, just make some payments on a regular basis, like when it goes into repayments because it’s just going to make your loan that much less when the interest does start accruing.”
They both said paying it off now will allow for less debt to be accumulated later on.
Dagit has one last piece of advice for students.
“Make sure that you build that into your budget, that you can make those payments when they start in February,” Dagit said.
