“Dear Steve,
Student loan question. My daughter is a 2011 graduate with a degree in school psychology. This particular profession requires a 4 year bachelor’s degree and three years of graduate school. She is currently employed in SC, and makes 45, 00 before taxes. She has 40,00 in grad school loans (federally funded)
Two questions: Does she qualify for Obama’s student loan program: either the old 15%, 25 year cap program, or the new 10%, 20 year cap program? If so, would this add a significant amount to her loan in the end (due to extending the loan and incurring more interest)?
Second, she is employed at a title one school in SC. There is a program in place that forgives a percentage of the loan if she is employed for 5 years or more. Her district excludes administrators and “councelors” from thsi program. IS this legal? She makes only 2 or 3 thousand dollars more than a teacher in the district, and yet she has 3 years more schooling/debt as a result of her career choice.
Thank you for and and all information you can provide!
Bonnie”
Dear Bonnie,
There is no new “Obama Student Loan Program” yet. But there is a program on the books that is very close to the program proposed. You can look at the Income Based Repayment (IBR) program. It has very similar features as the proposed program.
The student loan forgiveness programs I am familiar with are for teachers and not for other school personnel. You can see the South Carolina form here. But this is not an exclusion by South Carolina but by the Federal program as a whole.
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