by Jeremy Hunt and
Matthew Kappus
Daily Lobo
Going into public service after graduation could erase some of your student loans.
Under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, students can have their federal student loans forgiven after 10 years of payments if they work in public service that whole time.
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Monthly loan payments are lower for graduates who have jobs in public service, said Peter Winograd, a professor at the law school who helped write and lobby for the loan-forgiveness provision.
"We heard stories of many people who were unable to go into public service because they were worried about repaying their loans," he said. "This will make them able to do it."
The loan forgiveness provision went into effect Oct. 1.
About half of UNM students graduate with student loans, according to the Project on Student Debt. The average debt upon graduation is about $17,000.
Winograd worked on the loan forgiveness provision with Philip Schrag, a law professor and director of the Center for Applied Legal Studies at Georgetown University.
Und`er the loan-forgiveness provision, federal Direct Loans, federal Stafford Loans and Grad Plus Loans will disappear for students who work in an eligible field for a decade.
Eligible jobs are full-time and include emergency management, government jobs, military service, public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education, public-interest law services, public library sciences and work with nonprofit organizations.
"My hope in all this is when someone puts in 10 years, the odds are they'll continue doing it after the 10 years," Winograd said.
Graduates have to repay their loans for 10 years, but the payments are based on their income, Winograd said.
"Public service jobs generally have low incomes," he said. "Their payments will be relatively low and in some cases may not be more than the interest that's incurring."
The reduced-payments portion of the act goes into effect
July 1, 2009.
Winograd said the program gets complicated, and students should talk to a financial aid adviser about the details.
Law student Vanessa Chavez said the program makes a big difference for UNM graduates considering public service.
"I know a lot of us would love to go into these public-interest jobs, but we can't because we have these loans to pay off," she said.
She said some law students graduate more than $100,000
in debt.
The program will make a big difference for a lot of students, said Kathleen O'Keefe, associate director of financial aid.
"We know debt burden is becoming quite a significant issue for students leaving school, starting out their careers and having an enormous debt," she said.
O'Keefe said she has personal experience with college-debt burden. She will turn 60 in December and is still paying off her
student loans.
