BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Alula Asfaw just graduated from the University at Buffalo in May with a master's in international trade.
"Overall, I definitely felt like, you know, I grew a lot in the last three semesters. I just got a different outlook on a lot of things so definitely found value in it," Asfaw said.
Between earning an undergraduate degree and his time at UB, Asfaw has around $50,000 in student loans.
"Undergrad I had like $25,000 and in graduate school I basically just added the same $25,000 without any support from parents or anything like that," he said.
This week, all eyes are on the Supreme Court as the court will soon rule on President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program. The plan would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those who made under $125,000 during the pandemic and forgive an additional $10,000 for Pell Grant recipients like Asfaw.
'There's a small sliver of me that's like 'Hey you know maybe something could happen and you know it could get forgiven,' but truthfully I've been operating like it's not," he explained.
Interest on student loans will resume in September with payments due in October for the first time since COVID. Matthew Mcanulty, a certified financial planner with Sgroi in West Seneca said the average student loan payment will be about $400 a month for roughly 40 million borrowers.
'You don't have to start paying your student loan for the next couple of months but it's good to get in the habit of living on less while you can that way you don't have a big shock," Mcanulty explained.
Mcanulty it's wise to start preparing for these payments now. He said to determine which loan provider you will owe money to and how much you will have to pay each month.
"Once you have all of that information you can then factor that into your budget," he said, "You're gonna see people cutting back a lot on discretionary funding probably cutting eating out so those areas of the economy might take a beating unfortunately."
When paying back loans, he also said to consider looking at, income-driven repayment, consolidating loans, and variable-rate loans.
Meantime, Asfaw is waiting for the court ruling but said he expects to repay his loans fully.
"I still have my small glimmer of hope but I've been operating like it's not going to happen essentially," he said.
