Going to a respected university is very expensive, but when it concerns your future price should be the last thing on your mind. Attending a prominent university should be looked at as an investment in your future, so you don't want to cheat yourself out of success. This is the outlook most students have and rightly so. At the end of the educational tenure they end up owing up to or more than one hundred thousand dollars in loans after they get their masters as a result. The whole point of going to a renowned and expensive institution is so you can get a high paying job that requires all of your higher education. There are always situations that occur in life that you don't plan for or even expect. Sometimes these unfortunate circumstances take a toll on your financial situation. So, when you graduate and you regrettably find yourself in a situation where you can't pay your loans you may have the option of deferring your payments. There is a proviso or two in order to qualify for a loan deferment.

FFELP (Federal Family Education Loan Program) is offered by the Department of Education. FFELP is a program that gives borrowers an opportunity to an Economic Hardship Deferment. The borrower is able to defer or delay payment of student loans, because of their economic hardships. The question now is what are the requirements or the standards for being in an economic hardship? An economic hardship can take many forms. It can be six or more depending on your lender's policy. For the most part there are on average six situations where you qualify to be able to defer your loan. If you earn less than the poverty line income for a family of two in your respective state then you qualify to defer. You also qualify if you exceed whatever the federally defined debt-to-income ratio.

If you receive state or federal public assistance then you are enabled to get a loan deferment. You also are entitled to a loan deferment if you work a full-time job and your loan payment amounts to at least 20% of your monthly income and if your monthly gross income and your monthly federal education debt is less than 220% of 1,100 dollars. If you don't work a full-time job and your monthly income is not greater than 1,100 per month then you too can get a loan deferment. If you are serving as a Peace Corps volunteer you can also receive a loan deferment. Same goes if you are in the medical profession doing your residency.

The longest time period you can request an Economic Hardship Deferment is for a maximum of three years but mostly they offered in increments of one year. If your residency or if you have an internship that last more than three years then you can get a mandatory forbearance. Making the choice to get educated in a good school should not haunt you. Having made that choice should be worn like a badge on your chest not a weight on your shoulders. So, now if you find yourself in a hard spot post graduation at least you have an exit strategy.