Repaying Your Loan(s)

For Federal Direct Loans, there are several different repayment options that can help you manage your debt.

The amount you pay each month and how long you take to repay your loans will vary depending on the repayment plan you select.

The U.S. Department of Education offers income-driven repayment (IDR) plans for federal student loans. IDR plans are designed to make your student loan debt more manageable by reducing monthly payment amounts and providing credit for IDR and for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). You will need to certify your income and family size each year you want to use an IDR plan. You can provide authorization to the U.S. Department of Education to retrieve your Federal Tax Information directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rather than manually entering your information each year. This authorization would allow your income to be automatically certified annually so you can remain eligible for the plan and to allow you to be automatically enrolled in an income-driven payment plan if you fall behind on your student loan payments. Consent must be provided by logging into your StudentAid.Gov account. For more information go to the U.S. Department of Education website. 

Repayment plans and calculators

Visit the Repayment Plans and Estimator at the U. S. Department of Education website for more information.

• Using their online repayment estimator, you can estimate your repayment amount under each of the different plans to find one that’s right for you. You may request a different repayment plan anytime to help with your current financial situation.

• The repayment estimator not only helps you select a repayment plan when it is time to begin repaying your student loans. It can also help you decide how much to borrow for your degree and career objectives.

Consolidating your loans

A Direct Consolidation Loan can help you (and your parents, if they borrowed for you) simplify loan repayment by combining several types of federal student loans into one. The repayment process is simpler.

• You make only one payment each month.
• The interest rate on the Consolidation Loan might be lower than what you are currently paying on your current loans.
• The Federal Student Aid website has more information on loan consolidation.
• As a result of consolidation, you will only have to make one monthly payment on your federal loans and the amount of time you have to repay your loan will be extended.
• Consolidating your federal education loans can simplify your payments, but it also can result in loss of some benefits.
• Learn about consolidation so you can weigh the pros and cons and decide whether a Direct Consolidation Loan is right for you.

About your loan history

If you are unsure about the types and amounts of student loans you borrowed, you may access your federal student loan history anytime through the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).