Changes Made in Federal Loans for Students

Starting Wednesday anyone who has federal student loans can try to adjust their payments according to their income; which many in East Lansing say will help students struggling under heavy federal loan debt.

Student debt, most of us have it and many of us are struggling to pay it back, but starting Wednesday the federal government is offering some help.

"In the income based repayment they would be able to show their income and the payments would be just 15% above 150% of the poverty level " said Val Meyers the MSU Assistant Director of the Office of Financial Aid.

But while the office of financial aid says the new program is a good idea,we took the question to the students.

"I mean I guess it is- however is that going to cause interest to keep going up or not?" said Michigan State student Alexandra Hartford.

The answer is complicated, if in the first three years your payments don't even cover the interest costs, the government will pick up the slack.

After that it's up to you and with an extended payment plan,you end up paying more interest in the long run,but some students say it's just what they need.

"I cant afford to go to grad school A and B with the job market right now, I'm probably going to need more time than originally would be expected to be able to pay off my loans so that'll help me out a lot." said Andrew Struska a Michigan State Senior.

 And Meyers says she thinks it'll help most of Michigan State's students as need continues to increase.

"We've seen an increase of about 16% this year in the number of aid applications which is very large compared to other years, we always see a small increase but we do see a larger increase now." said Meyers.

And she's hoping that new rules will give students some breathing room when it comes time to repay Uncle Sam for college.

To find out if you qualify or for more information you can click on the links tab.