On July 1, 2009, a new payment program was put into place called Income-Based Repayment (IBR). This provides a cap on your monthly federal student loan payments (but ONLY for Federal direct loans), and the balance will be forgiven after 25 years of making proper payments on time.

The cap is based on your income and can go from paying nothing at all to up to 10% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). The lower the AGI, the less you’ll have to pay monthly. They will not accept more than the cap per month.

So here’s the catch: Only Federal direct loans qualify for this plan and the forgiven balance will be considered taxable income.

Yup, so you’re responsible for the taxes! But it’s better than paying off the full balance, right?

You got to prepare yourself for the 25th year to make sure you can deduct enough taxes so you won’t have to owe any after filing. Hopefully, the standard deduction will cover the taxable income, but by that time you might be able to have enough itemized deductions for the year to help cover that.

And parent loans don’t qualify. Private bank student loans don’t qualify.

If you work for the government or a non-profit organization, your direct loan can be forgiven in 10 years.

I don’t want to get into too much detail about these new programs, so you can do your research from here. I just wanted to get the word out some more, since it doesn’t seem to be a hot topic. You can start here and then look around for different perspectives. Tell me what you think.

Come see our animation this Friday!

With Tehetena and Salvador.
Photo by Sapira Cheuk.

Andrea Bowers and Suzanne Lacy

January 31, 2009 – March 28, 2009
Opening Reception: January 31, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Consisting of a new collaborative performance installation presented alongside the juxtaposition of past works, Suzanne Lacy and Andrea Bowers utilize clothing, fabric, simple public rituals, and community organizing to look at labor, class, race and gender.

http://sweeney.ucr.edu/exhibitions/bowerslacy/

Hey everyone! I forgot that I had some Interlock Running Shorts in stock too! I posted these HOT red shorts up in sizes S, M/OS, and L. Don’t forget to check out all the other American Apparel clothes I have up for auction. Click on the hot shorts image to the left to view them all. Tell your friends & family!

In addition, I thought I’d share with you my cell phone customizations. I made a new wallpaper and animated screen saver using my illustrations today. These are made for the Motorola Rokr. Here they are:

I posted some new things on eBay! These are the styles I am selling from American Apparel. The colors may or may not be accurate–please click on the thumbnail to view the ad for the right color.