Pexels user Konstantin Olsen
When you take a student loan, you will be given a loan repayment schedule that states how and when you will have to pay back the loan and interest. Most lenders do include a grace period after graduation to give you some time to get a job and get on your feet before you have to start making payments.
If all goes according to plan, you should be able to get that job and keep to the payment schedule. But in life, things don’t always go to plan. When the time comes, if you find that you are unable to make payments on your loan, you may be able to postpone making payments temporarily. This is known as deferment.
You can defer your student loans under the following circumstances:
- You are employed in a teacher in a teacher-shortage area
- You are participating in some type of rehabilitation training
- You are enrolled in a graduate fellowship program, a residency, or an internship
- You have not found appropriate employment or you are working less than 30 hours a week
In most cases, you will be able to defer your student loans for up to three years. During this period you do not need to pay anything on your loan. During the deferment period, additional interest does not accrue on subsidized loans but it will accrue on unsubsidized loans.
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