Boston University families said they feel uncertain about the future of their children’s education, after the termination of a year-long grace period protecting federal student loan borrowers from the impacts of late payments.
The grace period provided relief to borrowers who struggled to make federal student loan payments, after it restarted following a three-year hiatus in October 2023.
The pandemic-era policy helped families because they were not reported to credit bureaus for their late payments. Now, borrowers will see their credit scores affected if they do not make on-time payments, according to FAFSA.
Arielle Winston, a freshman at BU who pays her own tuition, said she was concerned about how she would pay off her semester tuition balance with the insufficient loan amount she was offered.
“[FAFSA is] not giving me enough money, to be honest,” Winston said. “I cannot pay $1,000 right now.”
Winston said that while she knew she would have to pay off her loan eventually, she was unaware that the grace period would end and thought she had until the end of the semester to pay it off.
“I didn’t know there was a limit on how much you would take out for federal loans,” Winston said. “I thought I could just take out all of it, but [I] cannot.”
BU Spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email that students were notified in early September about the deadline and reminders were sent on Sept. 27 to students with remaining balances.
When asked about how BU is supporting its students during this time, Riley wrote that BU has advised students “multiple times” of steps they can take.
“Students expecting a refund of loan dollars to pay for living expenses can request an advance against the future credit,” Riley wrote. “We thank students and their families for their patience and understanding.”
Kirsten Winston, Arielle’s mother, said that she has her own federal student loans to pay off. She said she was “grateful” for the COVID-19 student loan freeze while it lasted, but now she’s worried that the “burden” of student loans will swell.
“Unless [other] families are particularly well off, they’re probably going to be struggling similarly to [how] we would be,” Kirsten Winston said.
Kirsten Winston said her experience with student loans has been confusing and filled with “roadblocks.”
“[Arielle] has to worry about those loans immediately after school, not knowing her job status. That’s very alarming, makes me worry,” Kirsten Winston said. “If I’m paying off my loans, that’s less that we might be able to help her out.”
Camila Peña, a freshman, said that neither she nor her parents were concerned about making late payments following the termination.
“I don’t think it’s going to directly affect me,” Peña said. “Just because I know that my parents are helping me out.”
Peña’s concern, she said, was the amount of loans her parents would have to take out for her siblings’ education.
Because she chose to go out of state for college, Peña said her two younger siblings might only have the choice to attend state schools in her home state of Virginia, where the tuition would be lower.
“My sister’s 13, but she wants to go out of state,” Peña said. “If I were to stay in state, and so would my brother, maybe my sister would go [out of state].”
Now that regular student loan payments have returned, Kirsten Winston said the family must “cut out” some nonessentials.
“We would definitely put a priority on making sure that [our] kids aren’t affected and that they don’t have to suffer because of financial problems,” Kirsten Winston said.
Such choices can come with sacrifices, Kirsten Winston said: “Christmas is going to look a lot different.”
