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My One Year Student Loan Payoff Update

  January 28, 2022 marked my one year anniversary of paying off my student loans . Reflecting back on choosing to pay off my student loans leaves me with several take a ways that I want to share with you! In September 2020 I decided to become debt free by utilizing the debt snowball method to pay off all my debt. Before this I had struggled to save and really understand basic financial principles. As a first-generation college student, I received a scholarship to attend undergrad for free, but the scholarship did not cover summers. During the summers I took out student loans to cover costs without paying interest rates or how much I was taking out. By the end of undergrad I had amassed a little under $17K. Fast forward to graduate school I received another scholarship that covered my education. At the time I was a teacher in a new very expensive city and I had missed the cutoff to have my paycheck last me throughout the summer. So, I decided to take out a loan for two summers to keep

Biden Just Forgave 5.8 Billion in Student Loans!!😳

 So as you all know I have completely lost hope in student loan forgiveness at this point. With another extension and no word on loan forgiveness I have just given up and decided to pay my student loans. However, some news from the Biden Administration last week has somewhat restored my faith. Just last week Michael Cardona, The Department of Education’s Secretary announced that President Joe Biden would be forgiving 323,000 individuals student loans! This equates to 5.8 billion dollars in student loan forgiveness y’all!

Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest video “Biden Just Forgave 5.8 Billion in Student Loans” where I am wearing a green shirt with my hair in a bun and a surprised look on my face.

Now if you are a person with a significant and permanent disability that prevents you from working then you are eligible for this loan forgiveness. Previously individuals with disabilities could apply for loan forgiveness through the Total Permanent and Disability Discharge Act of 1965 however many borrowers never knew this even existed. Fast forward to August 2021 PWDs no longer have to apply because this will happen automatically through a Social Security Data match. For borrowers who were already receiving SSI the data match will be applied through June 2021 and forgiveness will occur sometime in September 2021. 

Figure 2: This is a photo of Michael Cardona, The U.S Education Secretary. 


 Now I know what your thinking, Ms. Duggan I don’t have a disability and I still have student loan debt ! Think about it though, previously PWDs had to apply for this type of loan forgiveness and are now having this applied automatically through a data match. What else can the Department of Education data match to see who can afford their student loans? I think this opens up a whole new world of possibilities that I actually have a new found hope for. Now don’t get me wrong I’m still paying on my loans but could their be a new glimmer of hope ? What do you think ? Drop down in the comments and let me know! Be sure to check out my latest video and share with someone who could use this information! 

PWDs= People with disabilities 

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