ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Student loan forgiveness programs brought some welcome relief for people all over the United States throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the Federal Student Aid Payment Pause will expire May 1, and many must now plan how they’ll get their payments through.

The average student loan debt sits around $39,000, according to educationdata.org.

Brittani Pierce is one of many who faces massive student loan debt.

She knows, amidst the stress of making payments, she has to keep her mental health in check.

“Mental health is super-important. So I just want to make sure every single week that I am making it a priority. So I do like to do different types of exercise,” she said.

For the 29-year-old FSU grad, roller blading outside is an easy escape, especially because most of her day is spent at a desk.

“With it ending in May, I will have to pay about $450 a month. So that’s going to be essentially like an extra car payment. More expensive than my car, actually,” Pierce said.

She says more than half of that will tackle the interest payment, not the loan itself.

She has $58,000 left in loans to pay off between three different colleges.

She knows she’s not alone, though.

Educationdata.org says there are about 43.2 million student loan borrowers in the U.S.

For loans, she knows, just like her workouts, the key is progress and positivity.

“I feel like if I didn’t have this, I would be like super-stressed every single day. But yeah, finances I feel like stress me out the most out of everything, so this is like super-helpful for that,” she said.

As of March 2021, people who were age 50 or older held 23% of the $1.3 trillion in outstanding loans, according to College Board.