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Understand Grace

Whether you have an exit interview or not, make sure you know whether you have a grace period or not, and when it begins and ends.

Grace periods provide borrowers with time to get their feet on the ground after they graduate and before they have to start paying back their student loans.  Repayment on student loans then generally begins when your grace period expires.  You don’t have to apply for grace periods because they start automatically when you graduate or drop below half-time status.

Special Tip – The grace period for federal loans starts as soon as your enrollment drops below half-time, even if you have not graduated.  So, if you’re almost finished with your program and are just taking a class or two to finish up, your grace period may already have started!

The specifics of your grace period will vary depending on the types of loans you have:

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