Older adults paying back $290 billion in student loans

By Mary Jo Lambert-Terry

Student loans aren’t only a burden 20-year-olds carry. Many older Americans are plagued by it. Around 9 million age 50-plus have student loan debt ($290 billion), whether for their children’s college educations or from boosting their own employment prospects over the years. With inflation hitting budgets hard, many seniors aren’t prepared to pay hundreds of dollars extra each month. Here are a few steps to take to prepare and budget:

Mary Jo Lambert-Terry specializes in refinancing private student loans.
  1. Verify your loan balances with your lender.

Contact your lender and verify that the data they have for you is correct and matches your records. After years of monthly payments, many of us have likely set up an automatic-payment process and may not be keeping a close eye on our student loan debt. Without having to input our payment information each month ourselves for years, the current balance could be lower than expected. Knowing the balance is crucial to understand what you owe and is the next step in understanding what monthly payments you need to be making to pay off student loans quicker.

  1. Calculate your repayment responsibility and budget properly.

Make sure your current repayment plan will fit with your budget, especially if you are on a fixed income (such as after retirement). Student loan payments are monthly. They should constantly be factored into your budget, whether you owe a hundred dollars each month or a couple hundred–especially if your income has recently changed or you’ve retired in the past few years. Whether you’ve been paying the minimum or a little more, if your finances have changed even the slightest bit, it’s important to calculate how much you can pay each month. You may be able to make a higher monthly payment than you did when you first took out the loan.

  1. Refinance to lock in record low interest rates.

Interest rates have been at a record low, and you could get a much lower rate by refinancing. However, before refinancing, understand your choices and whether refinancing would be beneficial. You should also consider your financial situation. If you have a good credit score, refinancing could get you a much lower interest rate than what you’re currently paying. Refinancing can free up some extra money that can be used to pay off your student loans even quicker, without having to re-budget. However, if you’re near the end of paying off your student loans, it might not be a good idea to refinance. Ultimately, it comes down to your personal situation.

  1. If needed, get into the right IBR program.

The federal government has a myriad of Income Based Repayment (IBR) plans or programs to help borrowers of all financial backgrounds. These programs will look at your income and decide what an appropriate student loan payment would be each month. They’re beneficial for borrowers with a large amount of debt and a low monthly income (such as during retirement). After 25 years in an IBR program, your remaining student-loan debt is forgiven. Typically, when you apply and are accepted to a program, your payments will be very little, and in some cases you could even owe nothing each month. However, it will likely take longer for you to pay off your student loans and you could be paying more on the loan over time. Consider first what other options you have before applying for these programs.

 

Mary Jo Lambert-Terry is a business and managing partner with Yrefy, a lender that specializes in refinancing private student loans. 

 

STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS

The Biden administration will cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those earning under $125,000 per year, or $250,000 per year for married couples who file taxes jointly. Pell grant recipients or undergraduates with the most significant financial need will be eligible for double that amount in loan forgiveness, according to the administration’s plan that was announced in August. The forgiveness is unlikely to extend to those with private or school loans.

Apart from extending the pause on loan repayments until the end of the year, the administration said in April that pre-pandemic federal student loan defaulters will also automatically be put in good standing, offering those struggling with payments a fresh start.

About 47 percent of Washington college graduates had student loans as of 2020, with an average debt of $23,993, and 16 percent hold private loans, according to The Institute of College Access and Success, an advocacy organization.

Administration officials expect eligible loan holders can start applying in October for loan forgiveness.

Are the Huskies headed for a Don James-like era on the gridiron?

It’s college football season, and there also is some déjà vu in the air for University of Washington fans who remember the Huskies’ fortunes in the 1970s.

The Huskies of 2022 have a new head coach, Caleb DeBoer, whose background up to now of relative obscurity in college coaching, plus the uneasy situation he’s stepping into, is reminiscent of the era that began 50-plus years ago with the debut of Don James as UW’s coach.

Remember? After some uncharacteristic losing seasons under then-coach Jim Owens, Washington turned to James in hope that his success at relatively unknown Kent State University (the school who DeBoer will face in his debut Sept. 3) would translate to gridiron glory for the Huskies. Ditto for DeBoer, who, with previous success at Fresno State and tiny University of Sioux Falls (in South Dakota), is taking the Huskies’ reins after their flop of a 2021 campaign. UW fans, including those who wonder if his coaching pedigree is sufficient to reignite their team, will be over-the-moon happy if DeBoer can eventually replicate the turnaround that James accomplished.

When Washington began the 1977 season with a 1-3 record, fans were restless. In his third year at the helm, James had a 12-14 record amid widespread discontent. That started changing on Oct. 8, when Washington demolished Oregon 54-0. The Huskies won the rest of their games that year and stunned heavily favored Michigan in the Rose Bowl behind Warren Moon, who overcame struggles as Washington’s first black quarterback and was named the game’s most valuable player.

James’ Huskies became known for disciplined play, tough hitting, ferocious defense, and winning. The 1979 team finished 10-2 and upset Texas in the Sun Bowl. The 1980 and 1981 teams went to the Rose Bowl, with the latter squad blanking Iowa 28-0. In 1984, Washington beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl to finish 11-1 and ranked No. 2 in the country. That same year, Sports Illustrated named what it considered the top three coaches in college football: “1. Don James, 2. Don James, 3. Don James.”

In December 1991, as the undefeated Huskies prepared to play Michigan again in the Rose Bowl, no less than then-President George H. W. Bush was among the well-wishers gushing over James’ selection as national college football coach of the year.  The Huskies backed up the honor in front of 103,566 spectators in Pasadena, Calif. and millions of TV viewers by trouncing Michigan 34-14. The Huskies were declared national champions by the CNN/USA Today Coaches Poll after completing UW’s first undefeated team since 1916.

Then came trouble. On Nov. 5, 1992, five days after Washington beat Stanford for its 22nd win in a row, news broke that UW quarterback Billy Joe Hobert received loans totaling $50,000 from an Idaho scientist named Charles Rice. A month later, The Los Angeles Times began a series of articles questioning the integrity of the Washington football program and whether James was heading an outlaw program.

In August  1993, following a six-month investigation, the Pac-10 Conference put Washington on a two-year bowl probation and docked the Huskies 20 player scholarships and $1.4 million in television revenue–the most severe punishment in conference history. Conference investigators detailed 24 allegations referencing Hobert, Husky boosters, and manipulated expense reports by student hosts.

The Pac-10 also stated “there was no evidence that the University of Washington set out to achieve a competitive advantage.” The conference determined Rice wasn’t a booster and had no connection to the university, and that although Rice’s loan was inappropriate because it was predicated on Hobert’s projected earnings as a professional player, it was “inconclusive” whether UW coaches should have known about its existence. The Pac-10 cited a booster in California for paying Husky players for minimal or non-existent work in summer jobs. (Today, college athletes, football players included, can accept money for doing commercial endorsements, appearances and social media posts, writing books, hosting camps, giving lessons, and other commercial activities outside of their schools, all without jeopardizing their standing with their schools and athletic eligibility).

Following the announcement of probation, James resigned in protest, rocking the college football world. While being lauded by some of his supporters, he was criticized by others for abandoning his players at such a difficult time.

James, who never coached again, later claimed UW had turned its back on him and the team, leaving them to the Pac-10’s mercy. He said he told the school’s administrators that “if this university isn’t going to support us any better than that, after all the money these players have made for them, then I’m not going to work here any more.”

James, who died in 2013 at the age of 80, rolled up 153 victories with the Huskies, the most of any coach in UW history, dating to 1889. Now it’s DeBoer’s turn.

 

Don James in 1978 with Warren Moon, UW’s first black quarterback, after the team’s Rose Bowl victory over Michigan.
This all-welcome game has people in a ‘pickle’ and loving it

On a sunny Friday, the Browns Point Playfield courts in Tacoma were filled. Two athletic youngsters faced off against a retiree and a man using a leg brace. In the far court, an octogenarian played a younger newbie. Laughter rang out and jokes flew among the participants playing pickleball.

“It’s fun, it’s social, it can include everybody,” said Tom Yee, Metro Parks Tacoma’s pickleball supervisor, who runs the Browns Point sessions. “And you feel like a kid again when you play.”

Pickleball is Washington’s state sport. The Browns Point participants have grown to 150 players in just over a year, and Metro Parks is resurfacing outdoor courts and expanding indoor sessions to allow more people to play.

“It’s getting so popular,” said Parker Ayers, recreation supervisor. “We heard that people wanted more places for pickleball, so we’re creating more.”

Browns Point Playfield is one of those.

Pickleball courts also exist at the Vassault, Jefferson and Stewart Heights parks, and indoor drop-in sessions are hosted at the Norpoint, People’s and Eastside Community Centers, with equipment for loan.

The sport was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island as a family game on a home court, and it has taken off more recently, especially in the Northwest. Although it’s played in a four-quartered rectangle like tennis, it’s actually more like a giant version of ping pong, with similar paddles and a hard plastic ball (the latter is similar to a Wiffle ball). Competitors can play singles or doubles, or keep switching people in and out of the game. Either way, the focus is on strategy rather than athletic running and slamming.

With 35 percent growth nationally over the last three years, pickleball was recently featured on ABC television’s “Good Morning America,” and NBC News has called it “the fastest-growing sport you’ve never heard of.”

“This is a wildly popular sport because it’s a very entry-level activity and everyone is invited to the party,” said Ayers. “I can have a person in a sports wheelchair playing their able-bodied friend, or a 90-year-old man playing his 9-year-old grandson. It’s unique in who it can serve.”

“Playing social sports is so important for keeping people healthy at all ages, and pickleball is a sport for everybody,” said Metro Parks Commission member Aaron Pointer. “We’re really happy that Metro Parks can listen to our community and add more ways to play.”

At the Browns Point Playfield courts, one of the players is Yee’s 88-year-old mother, Pat (“It’s fun and good exercise”), and sister Teresa Hoggarth, who said playing makes her “feel young and competitive again. And you make so many new friends.”

Clare Broadhead, taking a break from a singles game with Pat, said she and her husband “are new to the area, and during (the pandemic) it was hard to meet people. This is so much fun and easy to pick up, and people are really welcoming. The courts are smaller, so you can have conversations all the time.”

On the doubles court were John Turnquist, a 74-year-old playing with a hip replacement and knee brace, playing doubles with Mike Williams against former tournament tennis player Tara Kleca and 29-year-old Christian Meister, a former minor-league baseball pitcher.

“This is physical therapy,” said Turnquist. “It’s kept me moving for five years.”

For Williams, it’s about the exercise and meeting “a bunch of people. And you know how you felt as a kid going out to recess? That’s how it feels playing pickleball.”

Beginners can get their start in pickleball by visiting one of Metro Parks’ community centers and using the equipment there. Players who have their own paddles can show up at Browns Point Playfield any weekday morning from 9 to 11am, or bring a friend to the courts at Stewart Heights, Vassault and Jefferson. Updates and opportunities are online at metroparkstacoma.org/pickleball.

 

Source: Metro Parks Tacoma

Tom Yee takes a whack at pickleball himself when he isn’t coordinating Metro Parks Tacoma’s recreational opportunities to play the game.
Still standing, but for how long?

After 96 years as a landmark overlooking Puget Sound, the Masonic Home of Washington in Des Moines is facing an uncertain future.

Completed in 1926 as a retirement community for members of Washington’s Masonic Society, the stately structure features box beam ceilings, hand-carved woodwork, stained glass, and terrazzo floors. By 2004, the Masonic Grand Lodge of Washington started market the property as a traditional retirement home, open to Masons and non-Masons alike, but the economic recession put those plans on hold. Instead, the ornate building and grounds, became a venue for weddings, film shoots, and corporate meetings.

The property was put up for sale in 2013, and event-center operations ceased the next year. It was sold in 2019 to EPC Holdings LLC for $11.5 million and was transferred to Zenith Properties LLC, leading to an application to the city of Des Moines for a permit to demolish the building, which the Masons reportedly estimate needs $40 million in upgrades. Since then, city officials and the property owner have been in discussions about the proposed demolition and new uses of the site. As of this summer, the city hadn’t taken final action on the plans.

The Masonic Home, in its current state, has support from the public for keeping it the way it is in some form. Backers include Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit organization that in 2015 placed the edifice on its Most Endangered Places list.

Washington Trust, an advocate for saving historic sites statewide, has encouraged the city to require alternatives to demolition as part of its review and studies of proposals for the Masonic Home and property on Marine View Drive South.

The former Masonic Home of Washington is a Des Moines landmark.