TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — For many student loan borrowers, their student loans keep going higher and higher.
However, many have hope that all or some of their student loans will be forgiven after the Biden administration announced in August their plan to forgive student loans.
“It overwhelms me a lot. It’s something that I think about everyday, how I’m still going to be paying it off when I actually get my job,” Lorelee Felix, a Freshman student at the University of Arizona said.
She said she probably wouldn’t know how to identify a student loan scam from an actual call or email from the government telling her her loans are forgiven.
The Biden administration announced efforts to inform borrowers about how to identify a scam. They said they are planning to use social media to reach people.
The White House said to beware of scams even before the application comes out.
They said you shouldn’t give out personal or financial information over the phone. If it sounds suspicious, they said to check with your student loan servicer.
Some students at the university said they already know what to look out for.
“They’ll probably ask for like social security numbers, bank account information and they’ll even, I think they’ll even do like small questions just to kind of gain the trust and then they’ll start asking the more personal questions,” Alec Cameron said.
The White House also said borrowers shouldn’t tell anyone their federal student aid password because the Department of Education wouldn’t contact them for that information.
“I start asking them questions instead of giving out information. I’ll be like okay, if this is the case, like just call me back after I do some research,” U of A student Marcus Leslie said.
The White House also advised that borrowers shouldn’t pay anyone who promises to forgive their loans. They said borrowers can report scammers to the Federal Trade Commission.
You can stay up to date on when the White House comes out with the application for student loan relief by signing up on the U.S. Department of Education’s website.
‘“Do your research, not on just everything you’re getting yourself into, but as far as everything else out there, have a plan. Don’t just sign your life away,” Leslie said.
