Heads up for anyone using In-school deferment

Hi all, first post here. It is good to be a part of the debt strike. I have about $70k (hopefully soon to be $60k?) in federal direct unsubsidized loans from when I went to grad school.

I am currently back in school half-time and using that to minimize my debt payments. I happened to check my current deferment status through my servicer (Nelnet), and I noticed that the site said I was to resume payments in January, even though I am enrolled. Rather than taking for granted that, you know, things would work as they say they should, I looked further into this and started a conversation with my school’s admissions & financial aid office. I am trying to work as directly with them rather than with my loan servicer because I know they won’t do things like “accidentally” hang up on me or send me through confusing loops of automated phone options.

I just got this in an email today from my school: “My admissions folks have come back to tell me that there is a global issue after the recent federal NSLDS upgrade. Seemingly the uploads are not showing on the federal side of the house. I was hoping to have the final update quickly, so delayed my response. Today they’ve indicated that it’s not a simple answer and will let me know Monday if the file they re-sent has pushed through the entire process.”

Basically, it seems that there is some issue with people’s enrollment information being properly uploaded to the national database. I’m going to keep working with my school’s admissions department on this one. I’m sharing this here because it seems this could potentially be affecting many, many people, and I don’t trust that the issue will automatically iron itself out without active work on my/our part

I definitely suggest that anyone trying to use in-school deferment double check their deferment status through their loan servicer and to follow up with their school’s financial aid office (or whatever is appropriate) if it is not showing that in-school deferment is in effect.

Best,

Raven