Joana Colon

"I was able to reduce my student loan debt by $17,500 with help from the UFT..."

By #UnionProud Stories

February 25^th, 2021

by Joana Colon

I was able to reduce my student loan debt by $17,500 with help from the UFT. It’s a very nice glimmer in this dark time.

When I tried to get some loan forgiveness on my own, the only way I found to reduce my monthly payments was by extending by many years the time it would take me to fully pay off my student loan. That was not helpful.

But through the Student Debt Relief Program offered by the UFT, I not only substantially reduced my loan but I will now be able to pay it off in three years.

The student loan experts at the Student Debt Relief Program were super informative. They pointed out all my options and always took the time to answer all my questions and explain things I wasn’t even aware of.

As a special education bilingual teacher with 16 years’ experience, I qualified for the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The experts at the Student Debt Relief Program helped me get my paperwork in order to enroll in the program.

There was never any pressure on me, so it really was a great experience that shows knowledge is power.

Joana Colon is a bilingual special education teacher at the Samara Community School in the Bronx.

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Shalca Nelson

Joana Colon

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