Retired grandma, 71, still owes $108,000 in student debt nearly 40 years after ... trends now
An Illinois grandmother spoke out about owing $108,000 in student debt - almost three-times the amount of a loan she took out 40 years ago - as a key deadline for loan forgiveness is just five weeks away.
When she was 33-years-old, Nancy Peter took out a $30,000 loan in 1986 to finish her psychology degree at Mundelein College.
The single mother then took out another loan to go to graduate school at Loyola University in Chicago and worked as a therapist for nearly 40 years, reported WGN.
Now at 71-years-old, the retired grandmother of two owes $108,000 due to interest on those loans and is enrolled in an income-driven payment plan.
'It's humiliating, it's such a private thing. If somebody knew I owed this kind of money, they would look at me in a whole different way,' Peter said.
Retired grandmother Nancy Peter (pictured) said she owes $108,000 in student debt nearly 40 years after she attended college
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Throughout the last 40 years Peter said she has worked to pay off her debt but at one point went into forbearance due to her health issues
'The interest compounds and compounds, so every penny I don't pay, it goes sky high.'
Her current payment plan allows borrowers to make payments based on how much money they earn, but sometimes the payments are so small they do not cover the interested accrued.
Throughout the last 40 years Peter said she has worked to pay off her debt but at one point went into forbearance due to her health issues.
'This will sound terrible, but I have a paper of different ways you can have your loan forgiven, and the only one I fit into was I would have to die,' Peter said.
'I
