Finance

When you graduate, you might not be able to begin paying off your student loans right away, and this is why the government provides students with student loan grace periods. A grace period means the time period youre allowed before starting to repay your loans. This period is either after youve graduated from college or have dropped below half time status. Discussed below are two common federal loans that offer a grace period.

Two Common Student Loan Grace Periods
First of the student loan grace periods is the Stafford student loan, which can be further divided in Stafford Subsidized and Stafford Unsubsidized. In the former case, the government can assist families by paying the interest expenses on the loans during the students college career. In the latter case, the government will not subsidize the interest expenses. Regardless of which you have, the government will allow a six-month grace period before you need to begin your repayments.

For the Perkins loan, after you leave school, you have nine months before you need to start repaying your loans. If, however, you decide to go back to school and maintain at least half time status during those nine months, youll be allotted another nine months to start repaying. Furthermore, even after your initial nine-month grace period, if you return to school, the Perkins loan will give you a six month grace period after you leave.

Student loan grace periods can help fresh graduates who are still looking for full-time jobs because it allows them some breathing room. It is a good idea to do some research on grace periods for your specific loan, to see what kind of grace period it offers. Your research can begin on the Internet.