The Boston Globe's personal finance reporter, Jill Boynton, has a concise article about the new benefits for students with federal college loans that start on July 1, 2009.
These new options apply to the Stafford, Grad Plus and federal consolidated loans and your loans must be in good standing. If you are unemployed, you can apply for a deferment of up to 3 years. Read the entire article and visit www.ibrinfo.org to learn more about the income-based repayment plan.
But what if you have a job, but not a lot of income? Under the Income-Based Repayment plan (IBR) your payments are capped to no more than 15% of discretionary income, an amount that is based on the federal poverty guideline. "Discretionary income" is defined as the difference between adjusted gross income and 150 percent of the federal poverty line that corresponds to your family size and the state you live in (from www.finaid.org).
These new options apply to the Stafford, Grad Plus and federal consolidated loans and your loans must be in good standing. If you are unemployed, you can apply for a deferment of up to 3 years. Read the entire article and visit www.ibrinfo.org to learn more about the income-based repayment plan.
