By Ariama C. Long
With the average graduate grappling with high inflation and housing costs, it turns out the real boogeyman haunting October is student loan repayments (with interest) — which are due to restart next month because of legislation passed by Congress.
According to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), borrowers will receive a billing statement from a loan service provider containing a monthly payment amount in September or October, at least 21 days before the payment’s due date.
Onyekachi Okeke, 24, graduated from City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College this Spring with over $25,000 in student loan debt. She studied human biology and sociology with hopes of enrolling in nursing school in New York City. Currently, she lives at home with her Nigerian family in the Bronx. For now, she is looking for a job to save up money for nursing school and for scholarships to help with costs. She thinks that realistically higher education and the cost of living is much more expensive than for previous generations, so just “working harder” isn’t going to cut it.