Should I Continue Making Payments While My Loans Are in Deferment?

General
1

Hi guyz…

I’m in a bit of a tough spot and could use some advice. I decided to go back to school for a second master’s degree despite already having significant loan debt from my previous degrees. Luckily, I don’t need to take out additional loans right now. Even though my loans are in deferment, I was making payments for a few months. However, I was laid off from my long-term job in January, which cut my income in half. I’ve been job hunting ever since, and it’s been really stressful not being able to make payments.

Most of my debt consists of unsubsidized loans, and the interest on these is accruing much faster than I can manage payments. I’m contemplating whether it’s worth continuing to make payments at this point. Should I focus on making payments towards the subsidized loans, or should I just let everything sit and accrue interest? I was also considering enrolling in the SAVE plan, but it’s no longer an option for me.

Any advice on how to handle this situation will be appreciated. :blush:

2

There is an edge case with PLUS loans where they don’t have a grace period, so they aren’t ever in-school status or grace, just an in-school deferment or a 6-month post-enrollment deferment, so if you are a grad student taking out Grad PLUS loans, you can request to be removed from in-school deferment after the PLUS loan is fully disbursed.

3

Keep making loan payments until your deferment is approved. The deferment starts when you qualify (like losing your job) and can sometimes cover past-due payments.