Some of borrowers have tasted what they might afford if they weren’t debtors over the last two years.

Of course, the student loan-free nirvana was only brief. The pandemic-era respite that stopped federal student loan payments ends in January. The approaching deadline means many of the country’s 40 million borrowers will have to alter spending patterns developed over almost two years.

According to a recent D.A.The looming deadline for for Davidson & Co. study, 4 in 10 Americans with student loan debt want the government to prolong the halt through January 2022. People need that money for other things: In another Pew Charitable Trusts poll, 59 percent of non-paying borrowers indicated they were using the money for “necessary expenses” like rent, food, or utilities.

For others, the lack of regular payments provided a critical financial cushion. Others used the additional cash to fund long-term aspirations they’d neglected while paying off debt. In any case, Illumint creator and financial counselor Kevin Mahoney believes the break from payments and interest has been a breath of fresh air for borrowers.

Borrowers may now spend on their priorities without worrying about borrowing.

“This period can give so much information on what individuals might do if they didn’t have to spend so much money on debt,” Mahoney adds.

Here are six instances of borrowers who utilized their student loan repayment funds to save for retirement or pay off credit card debt.

Affording credit card debt

Jennifer Cardenas, a first-generation Latina graduate of Columbia University, will have nearly $67,000 in student loan debt in 2021. After losing her college teaching job, Cardenas, 34, says she would have struggled to make the $800 monthly costs if she hadn’t graduated into the grace period. She racked up a $7,000 credit card debt on necessities during college.

She utilized money she would have spent on college loans to pay off debt and save. She also got her parents a washing machine following graduating. Cardenas appreciates being able to pay her payments without stress and not having to worry about unforeseen costs since the payment delay allowed her some breathing space.

By 2022, she expects to have paid off her credit cards and saved some money. But she doesn’t expect to pay off her loan fast. She intends to take out student loans for law school.

“The playing field is so unfair for persons of color,” she argues. “A legal degree will increase my social mobility, even if it increases my debt.”

Freedom to save and contribute to organizations he believes in

Lewis Eggleston, a 35-year-old American living in Germany, finished college in 2008. He selected two Americorps terms in a jobless market before returning to school. He took out a loan for seminary. It helped him acquire a great position as a non-profit LGBT pastor at age 35. In addition to the stress of owing so much money, Eggleston adds.

“Millennials took their elders’ advice to pursue an education, and now I’m in stressed crushing debt with a terrible interest rate,” he adds.

Despite years of payments, his debt has climbed to $79,000. (His monthly payments are dependent on his earnings, not how much he owes.)

He’s utilized his time off to save money to pay back his debts when the time comes. He’s also upped his donations to other charities. In light of the resumption of payments, he longs for the day when he may genuinely concentrate on his ministry rather than the constant burden of student loan payments.

If President Biden erased $50,000 of his debts, he would still have loans from years of income-based payments. “But I could finally advance and become a braver, fiercer minister without the weight of college loans.”

Tax-free shopping, retirement saving

Before the outbreak, Shannon Beranek was paying $540 a month on her three degrees in civil engineering. She kept delivering her regular monthly payments until November 2020, when she had paid off all of her accumulated interest and just had principle remaining.

“I stopped paying and started saving,” says Beranek of Champaign, Illinois.

On top of that, she saved money for a future down payment on a home or future student loan payments. But Beranek also changed her daily spending habits.

“I didn’t ask myself, ‘Should I purchase these expensive trousers or go to Kohl’s and get inexpensive ones?” “

She owes nearly $53,000. She has her auto-debit set up for when payments begin in February, but she is still worried about her debt load.

The anxiety of not having enough stems from her upbringing, she adds, exacerbated by her upcoming student debt installments. “Even when I didn’t have to pay, I struggled to overcome my financial fears.”

Her future investment

For her doctorate in international relations, Lisa Ansell, a 42-year-old college professor and head of the California branch of Student Loan Justice, owes almost $55,000. She invested an additional $465 a month in her family’s future.

While her kids will get free tuition at the University of Southern California, Ansell laid aside money for their books and room and board. After losing two close family members to the epidemic, she opted to prepay for long-term care insurance. Her stepfather had been diagnosed with stage four cancer, but his long-term care insurance allowed her mother to pay for his treatment.

“A illness or incapacity may wipe away a family’s savings,” she warns. “Even though I’m younger, I wanted that protection.”

Ansell says she expects to make compromises when her student loan payments resume.

“We will have to give up visiting relatives out of state and our gym membership,” she adds.

Saving for a vehicle down payment

Pre-pandemic, A four-year degree in political science from a private liberal arts institution costs Sergio Mata-Cisneros, 24 $300 a month. He was relieved when the forbearance began. Mata-Cisneros, who lives in Washington, D.C., was worried that his full-time work, a fellowship at a charity that earned minimum wage, wouldn’t be enough to cover the expenses.