Paying Off Student Loans Part of Many Americans’ Lives

For many people, achieving a college degree or finishing vocational training is one of life’s biggest accomplishments. Unfortunately, that accomplishment can come with a big price tag, leaving graduates worrying about paying off the loans that helped finance their education.

According to a recent Forbes.com¹ article, which used information from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources, more than half of all students leave school with debt. In addition, federal student loans make up the vast majority of those students’ debt. About 92% of student loans is federal debt.

And right now, American student loan debt amounts to more than $1.6 trillion, held by 43 million borrowers. The borrowers come in all ages, too.

According to the Forbes.com article, Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 have about $500 billion in federal student loan. And those between 35 and 49 have more than $620 billion in student loans. Plus, this age group has the highest number of borrowers who owe more than $100,000.

Student loans can last awhile, too. Millions of Americans 62 and older still owe $98 billion in student loans.

Members Can Get Some Relief

All these numbers point out the reason we created the WoodmenLife Student Loan Relief program. Through this extra², members³ can apply for a $1,000 award to help lighten the load of their federal student loans.

In fact, 85 Student Loan Relief awards worth $85,000 were awarded by WoodmenLife this year. Every year, there are up to 200 awards available to eligible members.

If you’re still in school, make a conversation about membership with a local WoodmenLife Representative part of your plan for paying off your student loans. (That conversation also will help protect your financial future with an insurance or annuity product from WoodmenLife.)

And membership will get you on your way toward eligibility for applying for Student Loan Relief by the time you graduate. If you’ve already graduated, you still can become a member and get started toward eligibility.

Accessing Student Loan Relief is an important step in getting closer to financial security, and a way to help address a crisis that affects the whole country.

Visit WoodmenLife.org/Student-Loan-Relief to learn more about eligibility requirements and how to apply, beginning in November.

Information for this blog was obtained from third party sources.

1.  Alicia Hahn, Jordan Tarver, “2022 Student Loan Debt Statistics: Average Student Loan Debt,” forbes.com, June 9, 2022, forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/average-student-loan-statistics/#:~:text=Borrowers%20between%20the%20ages%20of,into%20middle-age%20and%20beyond

2.  WoodmenLife Extras are available to members. An individual becomes a member by joining our shared commitment to family, community and country, and by purchasing a product. These extras are not contractual, are subject to change and have specific eligibility requirements, such as length of membership, number of qualifying members in household and/or qualifying event.

3.  An individual becomes a member by joining our shared commitment to family, community and country, and by purchasing a WoodmenLife product.

Awards may be taxable to the recipient and are made payable to the lender/servicer of the student loan to pay on outstanding principal balance only (not to satisfy regular payment obligations.)

Financial need is not a consideration. Previous WoodmenLife Focus Forward Scholarship recipients are not eligible.

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