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Interest is now accruing for federal student loan borrowers who had benefited from a 0% interest rate and payment pause since March 2020. Payments will be due beginning next month! Borrowers who are restarting payments will receive a bill at least 21 days before their due date.
Over 73,000 Minnesota borrowers have enrolled in the Biden-Harris Administration's new Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE) income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. Under the SAVE Plan, a single borrower who makes less than about $15 an hour will not have to make any payments, and borrowers earning above that amount would save more than $1,000 a year on their payments compared to other IDR plans. The SAVE Plan also ensures that borrowers never see their balance grow due to unpaid interest as long as they keep up with their payments. The new IDR application allows borrowers to have their income accessed securely from the Internal Revenue Service so they do not need to re-certify their income or re-apply for IDR plans every year. Apply for SAVE on the Federal Student Aid website.
What else can I do to prepare?
Check on your contact information
Update your contact information with your loan servicer(s) and on StudentAid.gov, and make sure you have an online account set up on each website. Find your servicer(s) by visiting your Dashboard on StudentAid.gov.
Enroll in auto pay
Don't miss a payment! Enroll (or reenroll) in auto pay on your loan servicer’s website, which will ensure your payment is automatically processed every month. Auto pay is optional, but if you choose auto pay, you’ll save 0.25% on your interest rate.
Loan forgiveness may be available
Check if you qualify for a type of targeted loan forgiveness at Studentaid.gov/forgiveness. More than 3.4 million borrowers have been approved for forgiveness in the past two years, due to public service employment, disability, or wrongdoing by a college, among other reasons.
As a reminder, the repayment restart affects federal student loans only, while student loans issued by the State and private lenders did not have a pause on payments and interest rate accrual.
 Are you or someone you know applying to college this year? We can help! Join us this October for Ready, Set, FAFSA!, a series of free college and financial aid webinars created specifically for high school students and families to help them prepare for the college-going process. Sessions will be held on Tuesday evenings, lasting approximately one hour, with presentations from financial aid experts.
Sessions include:
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Session #1: Apply to College - 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 3
This session will help simplify the process, providing all the information you need to know about preparing, searching, and applying for college.
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Session #2: Understand Financial Aid - 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 10
This session will help families learn about the many ways to pay for college, including grants, loans, scholarships, and work-study. An overview of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the MN Dream Act application will be provided, including what is new for the 2024-25 applications.
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Session #3: Create Your FSA ID - 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17
FAFSA requires students and their contributor(s) to have a Federal Student Aid ID (FSA ID). Join us for a step-by-step walkthrough to create an FSA ID and tips to avoid common errors.
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Session #4: Search for Scholarships - 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 24
Learn how to search and apply for scholarships to help pay for college. We will highlight specific scholarships, provide tools to keep you organized, and tips to make your application stand out!
All sessions will have interpretation in Spanish, Somali, and Hmong. Attendees can ask questions in the chat and have them answered during the event by financial aid experts. For each session attended, students will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 scholarship!
Are you a student parent who is heading back to classes this fall? Funding is available for student parents through the Postsecondary Child Care Grant Program, a financial aid program that assists low-income students completing their undergraduate or graduate studies. Students can receive up to $6,500 per eligible child per academic year to pay for child care while they attend classes.
Minnesota residents who have a child 12 years old or younger (or 14 or younger if the child is handicapped) and whose family size and income qualify for the program. Eligible undergraduate students must be enrolled in 1-12 credits or more per term, and graduate students must be enrolled in 1-6 credits per term. Click here for full eligibility requirements.
To apply, student parents can submit an application to the financial aid office at his or her school. Find the fillable application and more information on the OHE website.
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 Minnesota schools and organizations can place bulk orders now for Minnesota Office of Higher Education publications. The four publications cover a variety of information to assist Minnesota students and families in their college search, outlining financial aid, the FAFSA and Minnesota Dream Act, student loan options, and programs and profiles of Minnesota colleges and universities.
Minnesota school districts, higher education institutions and community organizations can order the publications at no cost. Orders can be submitted through this link. If you have issues logging in or need your district/organization added, please email us at materials.ohe@state.mn.us.
Publications include:
In celebration of College Savings Month, College Savings Plans Network (CSPN) is hosting a “What Can A 529 Do For You?” sweepstakes, offering nine $529 awards to families who enter by October 1. Full contest rules can be read here.
To be considered for one of the nine $529 awards, families must complete this form and share what a 529 can do for their family or what a 529 is already doing for their family. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Awards will be directly deposited into either new or existing 529 accounts at the completion of the sweepstakes. After the sweepstakes, contestants might see their testimonials showcased in future marketing materials for 529 accounts and CSPN. By completing the form, contestants are allowing the future use of the testimony.
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As students head back to school this fall, there is a new state-level partnership in place to support students’ mental and emotional well-being. The partnership, between the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Education, aims to offer every teacher and school staff member in Minnesota an innovative and effective suicide prevention training.
As one of the efforts highlighted during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, the virtual trainings are available at no cost. Focused on suicide prevention, emotional well-being, and helping students who have experienced trauma, the sessions walk participants through real-life conversations, giving learners feedback on how they can respond and provide support. The Kognito At-Risk training is specific to grade 6-12 school staff, while other trainings are available to professionals who work with youth or young adults who serve on college campuses, community organizations, caregivers and other professions. The trainings will be available through June 2024 at Suicide Prevention Trainings on the MDH website.
For the past 20 years, the number of suicides in Minnesota has steadily increased, mirroring patterns across the United States. In 2022, preliminary data from the Minnesota Department of Health showed there were 835 suicide deaths, the highest recorded in the state, and 51 of those were among residents ages 10-19 years. This age group made up 38% of all self-harm injuries treated in hospitals from 2016-2020, with more than 20,000 cases.
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