Do you have student loans that need repaying? A clinic in DC aims to help you navigate it a little easier

Student loan repayments have resumed and two local nonprofits are teaming up to hold a clinic in D.C. this weekend to help get you on the right track.

“After three years of a payment pause, folks are having to think about how they are incorporating this extra bill into their budgets,” said Jalakoi Solomon, executive vice president of campaigns and partnerships for the education equity nonprofit Civic Nation.

Solomon said that the organization is partnering with 1K Women Strong for a special clinic to give those with student loans a chance to find out about their best options as they begin to repay their loans since payments resumed in October of last year.

“There are a lot of new programs that have been implemented since they last were in repayment,” she said. “And we want to make sure that they’re taking advantage of those.”

Solomon said she hopes that through the clinic borrowers can learn how to take advantage of the U.S. Department of Education Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, which could cut some borrowers’ monthly payments to zero and save others around $1,000 per year.

“This is really, really urgent, really timely … to make sure that we’re helping people as they’re figuring out how to navigate this,” she said.

Solomon said anyone with a federal student loan is welcome to attend. Federal student aid staff will be on-site at the clinic to answer any questions.

“Hopefully, every single person leaves the event with a really clear plan for their next steps,” Solomon said. “I’m really interested in seeing if that is something that we can help these few folks with to be able to get this debt burden off their plates.”

Federal Student Aid staff will be on-site at the clinic “to support from basic questions to escalated questions.”

The clinic is on Sunday starting at 1:30 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on 901 G Street in Northwest D.C.

Register for the training and Q&A session online.

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Valerie Bonk

Valerie Bonk started working at WTOP in 2016 and has lived in Howard County, Maryland, her entire life. She's thrilled to be a reporter for WTOP telling stories on air. She works as both a television and radio reporter in the Maryland and D.C. areas. 

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