Student debtors face a new monthly bill

Jun 15, 2023

Nurse Practitioner Tammy Pesaresi of Youngstown works with a client at her business, APRN Foot Care. Pesaresi is carrying a “substantial” student debt load and says she’s feeling anxious about the monthly payments coming due again in October after a three-year Covid pause.

Monthly payments on student loans will be due again October 1st after a three-year, interest-free Covid pause.

Marissa Frank-Sasiadek, 22, a recent graduate of Niagara University now working as a Registered Nurse in an area hospital, said she doesn’t know whether she’ll be able to afford to live on her own while paying off her $40,000 debt.

The prospect is “scary” to Frank-Sasiadek, a first-generation college graduate. It’s also frustrating, she said, when people tell her she shouldn’t be in so much debt — especially when they’re among the ones who encouraged her to go to college in the first place.

Tammy Pesaresi, formerly of Lockport, took on a student loan to finance her education while she was raising three children on her own. She’s now a Nurse Practitioner at Niagara University’s Health Center and Niagara Pulmonary & Sleep, an instructor at Niagara County Community College, and the owner-operator of APRN Foot Care.

And, Pesaresi admits, she hasn’t paid off any of her student debt, which she says is “substantial.” She was really looking forward to the possibility of student loan forgiveness, which was pitched by the Biden Administration and shot down in a late June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pesaresi observed the concept of student loan forgiveness didn’t go over well with former students who paid off their loans, and that’s an attitude she doesn’t understand.

“No one wants a hand out, but to give people just a little more help to reach the finish line? I don’t understand how you can watch someone suffer and not want to help,” she said.

Interest on outstanding student loan balances will begin accruing again in September, and payments will resume on Oct. 1. According to Wells Fargo, 44 million Americans will be paying an average of $210 to $314 each month.

As October draws nearer, Parachute Credit Counseling representative Lisa Frankenberger expects the agency will be swarmed by student debtors looking for advice and/or help to handle those payments.

There are ways to make those monthly payments more manageable, she said. The options include:

• Enrollment in an Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plan. Several different plans exist, and the idea behind them is a debtor can make monthly payments over a 20- to 25-year period and then have the remaining debt forgiven.

• Loan readjustment, with an eye on reducing the total owed. Even borrowers who missed payments, or whose creditors have not required payments, may qualify. Frankenberger said loan readjustment is a one-time opportunity and debtors should find out as soon as possible whether they’re eligible.

• The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which provides the lowest monthly payments of any IDR plan.

Parachute offers debt counseling services free of charge. For more information, call 716-712-2060 or go to https://parachutecreditcounseling.org.

Neighborhood Legal Services, which has offices in Lockport and Niagara Falls, also offers free student loan debt counseling. For more information, call 716-847-0650, extension 445.

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