b'FOR YOUR PRACTICEJeffrey E. Wherry, CFPContributed by Six things you need to know , CLU, ChFCDirector of Research and Planning about student loansTreloar & Heisel www.treloaronline.comIf youve taken out a student loan to fund your dental training, its time to pay close attention as things are about to change. For anyone who has taken on loans, the past few years have been an interesting ride. The pandemic put a pause to most payments for a while, and theres also been much talk about loan forgiveness and other forms of financial assistance for new graduates. We thought you might want to get the scoop on whats going on with student loans right now.If your payment horizon#1:Loan payments resumed Oct. 1, 2023Probably the most important thing you should know is that loan payments for students is long, and it looks likeare resumed on Oct. 1. Interest (which had been paused) began accruing on your loan starting in September. The U.S. Department of Educations COVID-19 relief for student long-term your income will1loans, which started in March of 2020, is officially over . continue to rise significantly,If you have never made a student loan paymentperhaps because you graduated during the COVID-19 relief period - its especially important that you revisit and study it may not necessarily makeyour loan arrangements. sense to be in an income- #2: Check to see if you qualify for an income-driven repayment planIncome-driven repayment (IDR) options now make it affordable for people with driven plan.high debt-to-income ratios to repay their loans. Make sure to check the relevant government resources online to see if you qualify. If you do indeed qualify based on income and family size, or you are working towards public service loan forgiveness (where you are required to be on an IDR plan to make qualifying payments), you need to apply and be accepted before it can affect your loan payment.AAP Periospectives| 28'