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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, a call-in on the question, how has the pandemic student loan repayment moratorium changed your finances and how do you think your life will change as it expires? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. As we often do in this final segment of the show, we invite you to tell us your stories. Today, it's the stories of how the pandemic student loan repayment moratorium changed your finances and how you think your life will change as it expires. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

For good measure, what would have been the effect of President Biden's loan forgiveness program if the Supreme Court had allowed it to take effect, the effect on you? 212-433-WNYC. Some background, after three years and nine extensions, the interest-free payment pause on student loans is coming to an end. Last August, the Biden administration attempted to implement the one-time student loan forgiveness program, but a six to three Supreme Court ruling at the end of last month, as you know, effectively canceled the plan.

Student loan borrowers who were impacted by this long pause is who we're inviting right now. We want to hear from you, what have the last three years been like, whether you were paying down your debt interest-free or taking advantage of the break? Call or text 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced plans for a new income-driven repayment plan.

It's called the Saving on a Valuable Education or SAVE plan. It aims to lower the rate that undergrad loan borrowers pay each month from 10% of discretionary income to 5%. That's one way that he's hoping the expiration of the moratorium and the Supreme Court decision won't affect you as much. That plan also puts a pause on people effectively making $15 minimum wage or less and would forgive loan balances after 10 years of payments for some, quoting actually from Fox Business there.

If you didn't make payments during this forbearance period, we want to know, was there something else you were able to do with your money, reinvest it in another way, make a business or career move that you wouldn't have been able to take otherwise. Did you just feel a bit more financially stable? Was it the difference between housing and not housing for anybody, or do you maybe have a regret not paying down more of your debt when you didn't have to? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Again, it's a call-in on the question, how has the pandemic student loan repayment moratorium changed your finances, and how might your life change as it expires? Ron in Queens, you're on WNYC? Hi, Ron. Thanks for calling up.

Ron: Yes. Hi, Brian. How are you? Actually, I'm still in school. I go to John Jay College. I have about five classes left. I owe $30,000, but my plan B is I'm going to take a state job. I saw a state job with the mental health over there. I think it's Ward's Islands, starts at 65,000 [unintelligible 00:03:45] to get overtime, and I'll get some loan forgiveness. I'm going work for New York State, I think, and that's my Plan B to get some forgiveness.

Brian Lehrer: Now, is that one of the jobs where it's considered public service and if you do it for 10 years, you get the rest of your outstanding debt forgiven?

Ron: I believe so. They're hiring. It's called the security assistant at Wards Island over there, the mental health security assistant where you assist the medical staff.

Brian Lehrer: At the hospital there.

Ron: Yes, they're hiring-- right, over there at Wards Island, they mentally insane. Also, Brian, they took the test away. They exempt the test [unintelligible 00:04:29] so there's no test, and then they make you fill the service without the test. That's also good. I said, "What's my plan B?" I saw it on Facebook, they were hiring for that position. Others also for New York State, others also.

Brian Lehrer: Right. Good. I hope that works out for you. For people who might think, "Oh, well, all these student loans," that's if you go to private universities. Sounds like you've gone to CUNY, John Jay, and you still have $30,000 in loan. Is that something that should raise people's awareness about the real world?

Ron: Well, some of that's from Nassau Community College also in Garden City.

Brian Lehrer: Still.

Ron: Right. Yes. My income didn't-- Most of that was-- I just couldn't get the-- the grants was my income. I was still working. I got some grants, but I didn't get a lot, so I used the loan.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Ron, thank you.

Ron: Some of that I took in cash too, Brian. I could have returned it, but Brian, some of that I took in cash too I put in my pocket. I want to make that clear also.

Brian Lehrer: Ron, thank you very much. Good luck whatever you do. Keep calling us. Jackie in Port Washington. You're on WNYC. Hi, Jackie.

Jackie: Hey, Brian. I never thought I'd say this, but longtime listener, first-time caller. Thank you for having me. I just wanted to say this is such a scary time. I have a ginormous amount of student debt that started in the '90s, and the interest that accrues and accrues and accrues makes it virtually impossible to ever hit the principal of paying it off. I have my undergrad and I have a master's degree, and I was hoping by working up the educational ladder, I would be able to work myself out of my student debt, and it didn't quite turn out the way that I had hoped.

One thing that I'm terrified about and don't understand is the Supreme Court ruling about-- I know that the $10,000, or $20,000 with the Pell Grant was being-- That's obviously not happening. One of the things that I saw was that they were going to add the interest and the principal, so everything is all due for almost a year on October 1st. That's an impossible thing that most people who are barely scraping by will be able to even touch no matter how hard you work. I'm with a lot of people. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to get it out, and I don't regret my education, but I regret that I did not understand the economics and the interest policies of predatory lenders when I took out those loans.

Brian Lehrer: Definitely a lesson for everybody else hearing your story, Jackie, thank you very much. Yes. Went to school in the '90s and still paying off student loans. Folks, we've had calls like that before. Jackie is not unique. I think I would have to look this up, so I don't want to say with confidence, but I will say, I think it's not like you have to pay all of the interest back on October 1st. I think you just have to start paying it back on October 1st. That might be a little easier than you were framing it, but of course, you're going to have to talk to a professional in the field to make sure. Dan in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Dan.

Dan: Hey, Brian. How's it going? Having the pause on the student loan payments has been a huge help to me, definitely, it's helped me and my partner get our own apartment and that's been a life-changing goal. Also, I've been able to take the money that I would put towards the payments and save it. There's one thing that everybody's been talking about is that the payments are resuming in October, but I think another important point that hasn't been covered as much in the media that everybody should know is that the interest starts accruing on September 1st. Anybody else that's been saving up and planning to make a lump sum payment before the pause ends should make those payments before September 1st so they don't accrue more interest.

Brian Lehrer: Great point. Glad you pointed that out, Dan. Thank you very much. Jacqueline in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jacqueline.

Jacqueline: Hi. I just wanted to say I am a three-time CUNY graduate, LaGuardia Community College, York College, CUNY School of Professional Studies. If I would've got the student loan, I would've gotten all of my degrees in New York City debt free. Unfortunately, I had to pay for my master's. They don't have a lot of grant programs for master's students. I did get some sort of a scholarship, but it still left me with debt, but this would have allowed me to go to school in the most expensive city debt free.

To me, I think that's phenomenal but it didn't happen. To me, I can't even understand, why not. This is making me question a Ph.D. program. I was thinking if I was able to get away with no debt all the way up until my master's, why not go for the Ph.D.? At this point in my life, I am hesitant about going forward because the Ph.D. program in New York City is over $100,000. I feel like it would [unintelligible 00:09:59] me to stop, unfortunately, but yes, at the same time, where does that leave folks career-wise? To me, just put a real damper, because education is not cheap. It's the least that you can do. What is $10,000 versus $100,000 college tuition for a doctorate? To me, I felt like-- [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Right. Even $10,000 wouldn't have changed your life, the Biden program, right?

Jacqueline: Yes. At this point, it makes me question, do I want to stick with the debt I have or do I want to continue to just go forward which wouldn't be very wise. It was a deterrence. Just to know that there was an opportunity to get all the way up until your master's degree for free in New York City, that's a blessing. I can't understand why we couldn't go forward with that.

Brian Lehrer: Jacqueline, thank you very much. Good luck out there. What a dilemma for her and for so many people who maybe wouldn't have faced the same question a generation or two ago. The question of whether it's worth going for your doctorate, are you going to have more income over the long run, or less over the long run because of this student loan burden? There we are. A very representative call. Here's Rob in Long Beach, who's a parent of a student who wants to weigh in on this. Hi, Rob. Thanks for calling in.

Rob: Hey, Brian. How are you doing?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What'd you got?

Rob: Yes, I'm a parent of a kid. I took off-- I had about $50,000 in Parent PLUS Loans. They were interest-free so I was paying them down, I was making double payments and fade it down from about close to $50,000 down to about $20,000 over the pandemic. Then my sons, my youngest one is on the autism spectrum. The $10,000 loan forgiveness would have really helped him out. He's going to Hunter for a geographic information system certificate now after he graduated from New Paltz, and he's got about $10,000 to $20,000 in loans. That would have been a big help because I'm not sure how his career will work out, but that would have really eased his pain as far as financially with that.

Then my oldest son, he's just finished dental school. I'm not sure how it would apply to him, but he has a couple hundred thousand dollars in dental school. It would have really helped him out. I think he would have gotten the forgiveness. He's going to be paying a lot off. He's a dentist [unintelligible 00:12:42] be crying too much for him, but it would have helped him get started. I'm sure the government would have made that back on the back end with him. Those are the things that's affected me during the pandemic.

Brian Lehrer: Big impact on your family, for sure, Rob, thank you. Let's get one more in here. Christian in Brooklyn, you're going to get our last 30 seconds. Hi there.

Christian: Hey there. Thank you for having me. I'm actually a social worker. I'm not an LCSW so I don't make 75 to some-- and a lot of people who are don't make that much money. The pandemic afforded me the opportunity to take a job making less than $50,000 a year that enabled me to become more financially stable. Unfortunately, I have three degrees. I have not been able to pay back the interest. I also, like your first caller, started school in '99, so the late '90s to 2004.

Brian Lehrer: That's going to have to be the last word. Another example of how long these student debt repayment programs can go on and the impact of the moratorium on helping people be financially stable. Listeners, thanks for all your calls. Obviously, we're going to keep covering the issue.

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