Certain types of student loans offer a grace period of six months after your leave school or graduate before you have to start making payments. For example, your loan may offer a grace period of up to two years if you did not complete your loan payments for the full duration of your education.

Check with the loan servicer, your loan, or your lender about the grace period or even consider borrowing at a lower interest rate to have the grace period applied to your loan. When you take on new debt, your loan servicer may send a notice to notify you of the grace period. Be sure to keep a copy of the notice. You can contact your loan servicer with any questions you have about the grace period on your loan.

Graduated Repayment
Pay what you can, if you can with a REPAYE loan (sometimes referred to as the PAYE plan). 2. The deadline to apply for federal student aid is 11:59 p.m. PT on the Friday after the last day of classes for the academic year. If you haven’t made loan payments for the whole school year, the last day to apply for federal student aid is 12:01 a.m. PT on the Thursday before the last day of classes for the academic year. If you’re unable to make a loan payment, contact your loan servicer immediately. Your loan servicer may consider your financial situation along with the available funds to determine your eligibility for federal student aid.

Federal student loan eligibility is determined based on the financial resources you have available. If you have not made any payments for the entire school year, you are considered to have met the resources guidelines. If you have paid your loan installments on time, you’re considered to have met the resources guidelines. How federal student loans are determined on a day-to-day basis is outlined in the instructions accompanying your loan. 3. You must enroll in the Direct Loan program as a full-time student for 12 consecutive months (or the maximum 12 calendar months if you have entered into a financial aid agreement). 4. However, you can complete your program in a part-time or a non-degree program, if you receive financial aid from the Federal Perkins Loan or Federal Stafford Loan programs.