Local reaction to student loan payment pause ending later this year

President Joe Biden signed the debt ceiling bill into law this weekend. Experts say it will avoid a default and economic catastrophe but it may be bad news for student loan borrowers.

>>Debt ceiling plan will end student loan payment pause; what does that mean for borrowers

News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson spoke with a recent University of Dayton graduate who will soon have to start paying those expensive bills.

While graduation season is an exciting time for new alumni, it could start to wear off once those loan bills start rolling in.

Robertson says as part of the debt ceiling bill signed into law by the President on Saturday, the student loan payment pause that has been extended a total of nine times would stop.

The bill says the pause will end 60 days after June 30, which means payment would start back up at the end of August.

>>Here’s how to prepare to start paying back your student loans when the pandemic payment freeze ends

Around 44 million people are going to have to start paying back their college debt soon.

Robertson spoke with Carolyn Bakx. She graduated from UD in May and is getting ready for medical school.

Bakx is one of those 44 million people who will have to start repaying her student loans.

“I guess to me they took out loans knowing that they have to pay them back eventually,” she said. “It’s definitely not fun to have to pay them back, but I don’t really know what the alternative is.”

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Robertson says the U.S. Federal Student Aid Office says it approved 16 million borrowers for the President’s student loan forgiveness program before opponents challenged it in court.

The plan remains in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court with a decision likely to come at the end of this month.