CLEVELAND – Student loans. These two words cause a lot of stress, anxiety, even depression in so many Americans.

Like Denise Ferguson.

“Oh, my student loans are going to outlive me! Ferguson said.

Like 41 million other Americans, Denise is drowning in student loan debt – $ 200,000 in her case.

“It’s funny because I’m a lawyer and a lot of people assume that we lawyers are rich and rich,” she said.

Well, rest assured, Denise is not one of those types of lawyers.

She works with abused and neglected children in the foster care system.

“We are the only supposedly first world country that has all these problems with student loans and people going into debt to do something right,” she said.

Denise went to a public school in Pennsylvania for college, Akron University for law school.

Fifteen years later, the amount of student debt she incurred is barely touched.

“If I win the lottery, it will be paid off. If I don’t win the lottery, there is no hope that it will ever go away, ”said Denise. “My house only costs $ 60,000 if that puts anything in perspective.”

The average student loan debt for graduates is around $ 30,000. It is the second highest category of consumer debt in the United States, after mortgage debt.

Since the federal CARES law came into effect, more than 40 million federal student loan borrowers have had their payments suspended and interest rates set at 0%.

While that expires Jan.31 now, it’s unclear what the incoming Biden administration will do.

There are pressures and proposals to write off student loan debt – from $ 10,000 to $ 50,000.

But nothing is clear, nothing is being done, and the experts say, don’t trust what might be.

“Don’t wait until January to expect executive orders, there is so much uncertainty right now,” said Dr Lakshmi Balasubramanyan, professor of banking and finance at Case Western Reserve University.

She said it was essential to have a plan in place before payments started again.

Contact your loan officer and discuss your personal situation.

If you lost or changed jobs during the pandemic, switch to an income-based repayment plan or discuss options if you have a hard time.

“If you foresee the worst case scenario, the best case is when there is a forgiveness of loan – then that would be a pleasant surprise but for now you should plan to pay it back because you don’t want to go into status. by default, ”Balasubramanyan said.

She also advises to go to Studentaid.gov to see if you qualify for loan cancellation programs.

Jeremy DiTullio of the Cleveland Financial Group says the worst thing borrowers can do is wait and hope for relief that may not come.

“I plan to start making your payments. In the worst case, there is forgiveness or relief and now you have a choice, ”said DiTullio. He also suggests borrowers “earn differently” during the pandemic if they have to, to avoid default.

“So earning differently can mean taking a job that isn’t exactly in your chosen field, it can mean working part-time on weekends,” DiTullio said.

But keep in mind that if you’ve kept your job during that time and can afford it, the payments you currently make on your student loans will go directly to your principal.

To be clear, the relief and extension only applies to borrowers with federal loans.

There is not yet standardized relief for private loan holders, unless their specific lender has made adjustments for the hardship.