Retired grandma owes $108,000 in student loan debt after 40 years

Nancy Peter, a 71-year-old grandmother of two, owes about $108,000 in student loan debt — more than triple the amount of money she borrowed almost four decades ago.

Now retired, Ms. Peter worked as a therapist for nearly 40 years. She is enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan, but sometimes the payments for these plans are so low they don’t even cover the interest.

The Saving on a Valuable Education plan, a new income-driven repayment plan that reduces the amount of income used to calculate monthly bills and eliminates any accrued interest that is not covered by a borrower’s monthly payment, could be a lifeline for Ms. Peter and borrowers like her.

“This will sound terrible, this will sound terrible,” she said. “But I have a paper of different ways you can have your loan forgiven, and the only one I fit into was I would have to die.”

The ADA continues to advocate for student loan debt relief, including legislation that would lower interest rates overall and pause the accrual of interest and payments on federal student loans for dental students in residency. Dentists with student loans may qualify for the SAVE plan.

Read more: WGN

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