DES MOINES, Iowa — The pause on federal student loans has ended.
After three years, interest is now accruing on loans and borrowers will have to begin making payments again in October. It's a move that is causing financial stress for some people.
Some say they wish they knew the financial toll of college when they were younger, so some local educators are working to make sure students know everything they need to be financially successful after high school.
"With my college-going students, I tell everybody, I’m never going to pressure you to go to college,” said Lincoln High Post-Secondary Counselor Julia Minnehan. “But if that's the pathway that you want to take, I never want the reason you aren't going to be financial."
Minnehan’s greatest wish is to see her students succeed, whether that means going to college, trade school, the workforce or other post-high school options.
"I think what happens is because there is such a pressure to go to college for everybody in order to make money and be successful, that students are going to college when it's not necessarily what they want to do,” Minnehan added.
That pressure can often lead students to make choices that later impact their finances, like taking out thousands of dollars in student loans.
That's why she and fellow Lincoln High staff member Bridget Bowser work hard to make sure their students, many of whom are first-generation students, make the right choice for them.
"Money is a big issue for these kids and they need to know that there's a certain comfort level that going in, they're also going to come out knowing that they can take care of themselves when they're done, as well,” Bowser said.
Bowser teaches college and career readiness where she answers students' questions like how much they'll have to borrow if they need to borrow student loans, how to pay those loans back, when to pay them back and what an interest rate is.
"And so having that information in their back pocket, makes them feel a lot more comfortable embarking on a journey that nobody in their family has done before,” Bowser said. “And so, they're kind of relying on us to give them that information."
That guidance makes a huge difference to students.
"They're not just your students until they graduate,” Bowser said. “They're your students until they stop talking to you 10 to 20 years down the line. So yeah, we get a lot of feedback from kids who just want to thank us for helping them make choices that are good for them."
Both Bowers and Minnehan say it's important for students to understand that college is not the only way to be successful post-high school.
They told Local 5 that Lincoln High School really emphasizes scholarships to students and even has specific ones that are only offered to its students, so they don't have to compete with other students across the state or nation for scholarship money.