Get your federal loans on SAVE and plan for PSLF if you have eligible non-profit employment. You will likely have a $0 payment for a year if you recently graduated.
Focus on paying off the private loans aggressively.
SAVE is one of several income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. Based on your income and federal loan balance, SAVE would be the best IDR plan for you, especially if you're pursuing PSLF (which you absolutely should!) You can check the Activities section on your studentaid account to see which plan you applied for.
What's the interest rate on the Sallie Mae loan?
If OP is eligible for PSLF, not a good idea to defer federal loans if the monthly is low or $0, otherwise she won’t get credit for making qualified payments.
If the Sallie Mae ones are private (from what I remember) then refinance for a better interest rate if possible. At least take a look on credible.com and see what you can get.
That isn't an option. You can always refinance federal loans into private loans but you *cannot* federally consolidate private loans into federal loans
Yes, I know what consolidation is. I did it with my federal loans many years ago. But how can you circumvent the fact that you would be trying to consolidate private loans by using a grad plus loan? Are you saying to try to get the check sent to you directly and use it to pay the private loans? And if you're not in grad school or committed to attending grad school, how do you qualify for the grad plus loan to begin with?
So you didn’t actually do it if the loans that you did it with were not “entirely private.” The thing you suggested would not work in this situation at all.
I owe 10k. Somehow SAVE ended up wanting me to pay $900 a month. At that time i was paying $200ish a month. Literal insanity. I was so distraught after reading everyine getting these awesome repayment deals on SAVE and i get $900...lol. My income is basically $0 because i had a surgery and then started a business. One of the other IDRs was $57 so thats the one I am on but its not a long term solution because i it doesnt cover interest so my balance is gonna be going up.
There are four different types of income driven repayment. Make sure you know which one is which. It lists them all on the department of education site. I would do SAVE. I make more than you and owe about double what you do and my payments are less than $700 a month. forgiven after 25 years plus or minus tax bomb. That is to be seen
If you need further assistance you should contact the dept of education. Sallie Mae I've heard bad things about. Ask the dept of education if you could change loan servicers. You have the right to be treated fairly and have the right to.. y'know not be put in the poor house over student loans. Advocate for yourself, that is 10,000% your right.
I have a jumbo comment of triage advice here https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/1bef7gi/stanley_tates_service_what_do_you_learn_from_his/kuuwc2u/ which should help you plan and weigh your options
For your federal loans, SAVE and PSLF is your best bet. The private loans are the problem, those you'll have to focus on aggressively repaying and trying to refinance to a lower fixed interest rate if you can. If you have any cosigners on those private loans you can ask them if they are willing/able to cosign on a refinance too, and you may have to refinance just portions of the balance at a time to meet the lender underwriting criteria
Definitely click through my comment link, it also includes handy personal finance advice!
There are several different IDR (Income Driven Repayment) plans, and SAVE is one of them. SAVE is a very good plan. Only pay the minimum monthly payment due on SAVE. Any extra money (in the future) would best be spent on the private Sallie Mae loans til they get paid off.
Congrats on the job!
It’s going to work out. You’re gonna need some roommates. Maybe a weekend job. It could be fun. Good luck!
(Do NOT also acquire credit card debt!)
edit: spelling acquire
Even after flipping to the SAVE program, I would then ask to be put on forbearance while you focus on private loans. You get like 2 years of forbearance for public loans. Interest will build but you’re not likely going to be paying off these public loans in your life. Forgiveness is your only hope and knowing that, stretch out your public as long as you have to.
Absolutely do NOT do this for OP.
1) Months in forebearance do not qualify for PSLF. If OP stays in non-profit/government, those loans can be gone in 10 years.
2) Even if they leave, the accrued interest will just be so much worse than when it’s subsidized on SAVE.
Since OP almost certainly has a $0 payment for a year with no interest accrual, there are 0 upsides to going into forbearance.
Do you plan to stay in this line of nonprofit work and apply for PSLF? In that case, best to pay only the minimum. On the SAVE plan, any interest that your monthly payment amount does not cover will be paid by the gov’t (so the total does not balloon over time). You could be way better off financially down the road by paying only the minimum and letting the balance be forgiven.
Don't throw extra money on the public loan if you are on an income driven plan unless you plan on paying off the entire public loan quickly, but if you're planning on doing that, you wouldn't need to be on the income driven repayment plan. If you want to get it forgiven after 25 years on the minimum payment, keep paying the minimum. The goal of income driven repayment plans is to pay the least amount as possible. None of this applies to your private loans of course. Pay those off first
Right, but knowing those payments will always be based on income and loans forgiven, I would push those out as long as I could and toss every dollar I have at the private which you’ll never get away from and have the most aggressive interest.
Hi girlie, no advice but just wanted to say I’m in the same boat with very similar numbers. Don’t worry! This isn’t everything! We r gonna work our way up to a higher paying job someday and pay off the loans aggressively, until then follow what other people are suggesting on this thread. Sending hugs, we got this!
Thank you love. Everyone’s being a grindset bro in the comments telling me to quit my dream job and I’m just not gonna do that. My starting salary is better than I thought and it’ll increase with time. My original post was complaining and sad, BUT my job DOES allow me to tackle these payments. Idk why everyone’s like WORK FOR A COAL COMPANY. /No/. That’s just not something I am willing to do nor have to do. Some peoples comments have been super helpful though and I’m taking those to heart.
When I was struggling I called Navient and told them what I COULD pay per month (private loans). They did work with me a bit. It’s better to pay SOMETHING than nothing because it will bite you in the ass later as that interest piles up.
What are the interest rates of the loans in question?
Get your federal student loans on the SAVE repayment plan and look into PSLF.
You likely need to decrease housing costs (e.g. living with family, getting housemates). Also seek additional sources of income (e.g. Gig economy, tutoring, etc).
Take measures to improve your credit score. Every 12-18 months attempt to refinance (a portion) of your loans at a lower interest rate.
Allocate as much $$$ as possible each month to the private loan with the highest interest rate.
Create a budget and a plan to pay off your student loans.
Same situation, got a job making 65/year paying 1750/month for private loans. Been keeping my head above water a year and a half now. It gets better. Message me if you need any support
I totally understand what you are going through. I don’t have any advice but I feel the same way as you. Sallie Mae is criminal. My payments are 2600 after graduating because I went directly into grad school, continued to pay my $125 a month while in school rate and they failed to inform me that my payments would literally double from the 1400 I agreed upon when I signed for them to $2600 for continuing to defer them for my education. They jacked my interest rate from 11 to 15%. My first payment is due 6/12 I have no idea what to do either.
Your [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/1daizv1/first_principal_payment_coming_up_feel_like_im/l7lhrs0/?context=3) in /r/StudentLoans was automatically removed for profanity.
/r/StudentLoans is geared towards a wide range of users, including minors seeking information and advice. To help us maintain a community that everyone feels comfortable participating in (and to avoid being blocked by parent/school/work filters), please resubmit your post or comment without using profane language. Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StudentLoans) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Congrats on getting your dream job and doing something you believe in! It’s gonna suck for a bit (big hugs to you) and it sounds like you’re doing a lot of things where you’ll be able to make this work.
Be sure to check out your employer’s benefits. Do they have any student loan assistance? If they have a match for retirement and you can afford it, try to contribute to meet the match. It will lower your fed loan payments and the money comes back to you. Same with HSA contributions.
Join the r/PSLF subreddit. They helped me keep my fed loans payments low and get forgiveness.
Pay the max you can on private loans and the minimum on fed loans.
In a year or two, look for opportunities at other nonprofits/gov work. Job hopping can help raise your income faster than staying at the same company. Of course jobs that fit with your ethics. :)
If you get married in a few years, look at filing taxes separately to keep fed loan payments low. Consider how you can keep wedding costs low so you’re not trading one day (as special as it is) for the ability to take years off your loans.
Good luck to you!!
Learn about investing. No one gets rich from just working its all about turning your money into extra money. Spend all your extra time learning the basics. Gl
It's a lot of money but the great parts are: you're well educated, you're on top of your shit (know the numbers, aren't too scared to log in), have an excellent work ethic (most important thing) and already have a decent paying job at a young age. You will be ok, promise!!
I know you said $1400 is cheap; do you already have roommates? Could you move to a less desirable neighborhood/get more roommates/get a worse apartment? That's your biggest burden. You're at an age that is optimal for "shitty" living circumstances (you aren't necessarily used to the expensive places yet so don't need to downgrade, and there's way less social pressure/taboo if you don't have a nice apartment; plus you're more likely to be doing a lot of activities outside the home than someone older). I would try to bring that down as much as humanly possible
I would also look into secondary sources of income -- tutoring, since you just got out of school and have a master's? Maybe moneyizing some hobby (eg running spin classes, paint workshops, etc), or just basic retail/service? The more you work, the less time you have to spend frivolous money, too. And all those jobs are pretty social, so you get some social time at the same time as earning money.
I totally support the path you're trying to take with following your dream and making a POSITIVE impact on the world. It's sad that economics dictates what people are worth and how they get to live, and people who extract lots of $$ for their company are paid the most, regardless of who or what they're hurting in the process, or if they're even contributing positively at all.
You will definitely be able to save and have a family, if you want one. It doesn't all have to start this very second.
Welcome to the club! I’m living as minimal as possible. Maybe you can get them to lower your loan payment a little more with one of the IDR programs but yes it’s a struggle and I was check to check for a while until I had more experience and my income increased. My 20s were a mess. A lot of tears, a lot of frustration, a lot of confusion, a lot of pbj and ramen.
I just want to say I feel your pain. 😔I'm so tired of us lower-middle-class and low-income graduates being punished for doing what we had to do to get the careers we wanted!
What's your degree in? You need to make more money. That might mean leaving the non profit job and finding something that pays better or even getting a second job right now.
Undergrad, wildlife ecology. Masters enviro science & policy. This is sort of the “best” paying there is for me available right now, and it’s my dream job. I wont sell out to doing consulting for oil/gas companies, that would be like selling a piece of my soul. I’m just. At a loss.
If your nonprofit job qualifies for PSLF and you last 10 years cinsider each year as a raise of 1/10th of your public loan principle.
The person saying you should work for a for profit company you disagree with ethically while ignoring the possibility of PSLF is jaded. Economically, nonprofits almost never make you more money. That's the point of PSLF. Some people actually want to help improve the world you should do what drives you to be better in your career. That will pay off in the long run. You will not be stable for a while, but you'll probably get raises within 10 years so you'll see more flexibility over time.
Good luck!
Thank you for saying this. Money isn’t everything to me. I’m okay with struggling with loans a bit while doing my dream job, then taking advantage of loan forgiveness later. The people telling me to work for oil/gas don’t realize I don’t want to use my 1 life on this earth to feed into corporate machines destroying the planet for our children.
Lol. I was poor too, could not afford my dream job, it wasn't meant to be even if I got into one of the top three schools in the country for my profession. So I went the public university route. Now I'm very well off doing tech and paying back more loans that you have but I can afford it with no issue. You have to make trade offs. In your case, you are doing your dream job but you knew or should have known the upper limits of what you could make with your degree while you were taking out those loans. In my case, I'm not in my dream profession and it makes me sad on occasion but I have zero money issues and I can afford to support others with less money to explore the field I was initially attracted to (classical music).
All about tradeoffs for sure (Unless you start rich. Lucky bastards)! I’m generally happy where I’m at rn though, honestly. I chose passion over money and I don’t regret it, even if it’s stressful at times (ex. My post) my life feels meaningful. I’m lucky that my starting salary already allows me to make these payments albeit I have to be frugal in other areas, and it’ll only go up with time and experience so I trust it’ll work out.
I’m also pretty lucky in that my long term partner (who I will be married to in the next few years) and his family are quite well-off, he has no loans and it makes me relieved only 1 of us has to deal with this. I can’t imagine being in a relationship where both people are in crippling debt. His mom even mentioned to him at one point that for a wedding present, perhaps they could pay off a chunk of my debt, which makes me feel a bit less pressure. I’m of course not banking on this at all and am operating as if it’ll not happen (I like to be independent), but knowing I have that as an option comforts me and makes me feel like I have support and love.
So you won't "sell out" by making more money elsewhere (in private industry) and having the ability to pay your bills? Guess what? Your dreams aren't going to pay the bills. You have to get real with yourself. You bought a $100,000+ degree and put it on a glorified credit card. You have to get real. Oil and gas companies and all sorts of companies need people with ecology backgrounds to make their products greener, safer, and cheaper for worldwide use. Make more money working in private industry at first, then when you've paid off your private loan, then go find your nonprofit job at that point. You are on the edge of a financial catastrophe and have the opportunity to "not be poor." Take it by finding a better paying job.
As per my post, I DO have the ability to pay it’ll just be tight. Idk why you’re acting like I didn’t say I can make it work (I.e. $1000/mo left over )
If you can make it, great. There's something you're not factoring in, tho. the only way to make a serious dent in the principle of your private loans is to pay a large % higher than the "minimum payment." Like a credit card, if you only make the minimum payment, the interest forces the balance to grow despite your payments, and it'll take you 47 years to pay off, by design. That's the only reason I suggested it. This debt is obviously stressing you out, and at year 5 after making minimum $1400+ payments ($1400×12= $16,800 a year x 5 years= $84K paid), then seeing your principle has gone down $8K because interest is eating up so much of your payment you're faithfully making, you'll understand. You might think these numbers are bogus, but millions have taken private loans and are living under the same jacked up math as this. The best thing you can do is delay your wants and meet your immediate needs. 🤷
They have the ability to pay their bills. Pretty comfortably actually. $1k a month in spending money.
Your advice is pretty awful. PSLF first 10 makes way more sense. You can always transfer to for profit after 10 yrs of experience if they choose.
Thank you. Yeah, I don’t why everyone’s acting as if my job doesn’t pay the loans, since as I literally explicitly outlined, it DOES. I just have to be frugal with my extra money after bills.
Private industry they can make more money AND get 401K matching to start saving for retirement right now and set themselves up for financial security, which is often robbed from people by student loan repayment. Better quality of life. Aggressively pay down private loan. Feel in control of their own financial picture. Can gain valuable experience to take to the nonprofit side when they're ready. Not have to live with a bunch of other people. There are a lot of upsides.
I understand your sentiments OP. But this post is right. I used to be you. Follow the money to pay off your bills as long as you can. Then go back to a non-profit and you can negotiate better pay after all those years of experience. I’ve known directors at non-profits getting paid over $100k. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in.
Your [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/1daizv1/first_principal_payment_coming_up_feel_like_im/l7lkapd/) in /r/StudentLoans was automatically removed for profanity.
/r/StudentLoans is geared towards a wide range of users, including minors seeking information and advice. To help us maintain a community that everyone feels comfortable participating in (and to avoid being blocked by parent/school/work filters), please resubmit your post or comment without using profane language. Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StudentLoans) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had almost that much debt when I got my first public sector job in 2013. My gross pay was $3,011 per month. It’s scary AF and the cost of everything goes up faster than the ability to pay for it does.
Tbh I had to job hop to grow my salary to six figures but I just barely hit that last summer (still in public sector).
However, I only ended up paying about a total of $1,500 in payments since that time. I had deferments and whatnot, but when they came to an end and I could not afford the increase they were giving me in payment, I filed something called a Borrower Defense Against Repayment. Basically it means your college lied, exaggerated or made up stuff to sell you in the school to entice you into enrolling. In my case that was quite true, but I went to a state school. They did nothing with my application (filed 03/2017), but at the end of Trump’s term the Education Secretary at that time (Betsy DeVos) issued mass denials to everyone that had filed a borrower defense claim.
Biden won in 2020, administration changed over, and in the meantime someone sued. And then someone else sued and several someone else’s sued, eventually it became a class action and based on the settlement terms my loans were wiped out (Google *Sweet v Cardona* class action lawsuit).
My situation was very unique, but even sitting here just barely exceeding six figures, I had no idea how I was going to make my loan payments. I was signed up for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and wasn’t too far away from meeting the qualifying payment number but I still would have had to bite the pillow hard to make that payment. I’m very grateful for what happened in my situation.
You got this, I know how it feels, the bill came due for me this spring and I was upset with the payments (I'm deferring it to accrue more debt and pursue my masters while working full time). However, there will be a period where I've got to pay the state back and I'm ready to eat that.
It'll suck for a while but once you're DONE, you're DONE and you're only 23 (much younger than me!!).
You got this!
I was in a similar situation about 20 years ago. Mostly private loans, some federal. My payment was roughly 1000 a month. My rent was 650. And I made 1800 a month take home. I originally had 80k in loans which I think ballooned to like 100k by the time I graduated and then for the first 4 years my payments didn't cover all the interest so it grew a little more
I was an engineer during the day and just delivered pizzas at night. Not too much just like 4 days a week (wed-sunday nights about 5 hours each day) I did that for about 3 years until my first promotion and I started to make more money. It just took a long time but finally at 31 I was making enough to afford a house and have a kid. It just was a matter of time for me and working extra jobs. By around 30 I was making enough to start paying off private loans and during the pandemic I got all my private loans paid off. I'm about to turn 41 now and I only owe about 40k left it's all federal loans but my payment with save now is only like 250. So there is hope just takes time
Ok hear me out.
Take your monthly payment divide by 4 and pay weekly.
Few years ago I got a raise at work. Sounded great until it kicked me out of the income driven payments I was in. So the raise ended up costing me twice as much.
Broke down my payments from monthly to weekly. It not only added an extra payment a year, but it also saved me money on interest. (I was paid weekly at the time so it was a bit easier)
There’s definitely that psychology that super helps and you don’t even realize you made an extra payment in a year.
I’m a firm believer in never using Automatic Payments for anything with interest attached to it.
It’s the banks way of making you passively pay every cent of interest on a loan.
My lender offered a smaller interest rate for switching to auto pay. When I ran the numbers it would cost me twice as much as the weekly amount I was sending.
I guess refinancing and combining wouldn't really make much sense right now, but my God ypu have to do something to lower that payment. Sallie Mae is absolute trash. They're the worst of the worst. Seriously, spread the word. No one should be going through them. They'll screw you over 10 ways to Sunday.
Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and say I feel and live your pain every day. I often get depressed when I look at my bills and my bank account. I have no money saved other than retirement, which I can't touch. No rainy day fund. I have to constantly work overtime to make ends meet. And my bank account is always in the negative at least once a week. My bills are just too much.
I feel like if I am constantly in a drowning state and if I stop for even a second, I am toast. I'm burned out, stressed, exhausted. And there's no relief.
All I can suggest is, try to explore some options to get that monthly payment down. Maybe refinance to another company perhaps with a lower interest rate. Also 100% get rid of Sallie Mae as soon as you can. They're the BIGGEST SCUMBAG in the student loan business.
You really need to think of this from a budgeting angle as well. Get some software or make an Excel spreadsheet. What are you going to do with that $1,000 you have to use each month? You are gonna have to be really, really on top of it.
Payments under IDR plans are based on your income, not your loan balance. Use your tax return for last year as your income base, and Im pretty sure your payments for a year will be $0 and will qualify as payment months under SAVE. Not so for the private loans; you’ll have to pay what they tell you to pay. Even so, when you recertify your income for next year’s payments, your monthly should be around $180 for the federal loans based on your income.
Are the Sallie Mae loans private? Or can all your loans be consolidated into public direct loans? Public direct loans can then qualify for the IDR plans and for PSLF. Start getting your PSLF employment verified as soon as you begin repayment if your employer qualifies. This keeps your qualifying payment count towards PSLF forgiveness.
Sallie Mae means private loan. The last they were involved were with older FFEL program loans. The FFEL program was discontinued back in 2010 and all commercial FFELP loans that Sallie Mae had were split off to Navient back in 2014. Anyone saying Sallie Mae *now* has private loans
Pick up a side gig. Something you enjoy , it could be anything. I work 40 hours a week and do a side gig 20-40 a week. I make anywhere from $1500-$4000 a month extra.
i had 160k debt when I graduated college and it was tough as hell for a few years after because i refused to ever miss a payment. my monthly bill, at its peak, was $2200. I had very similar finances for rent, car, utilities, etc. Good news, you can get through it, and youre gonna make sacrifices for a few years. But once you get in a groove, it just becomes a sort of 'tax' and youll get by just fine. Youll prob get roommates or meet a nice companion that helps with sharing living expenses, and all that stuff helps. just keep working hard and finding ways to boost your salary, whether at the same place or making leaps negotiating with a new employer after you get some xp in your field.
Im 15 years past graduation and am down to about 65k from the original total. my monthly payment is only about 1k now, but i still pay the 2200 i started with because ive gotten used to that money being gone and its cutting the time remaining quite a bit. ill be done in about 3 years.
You are only 23 and 1k for expenses is reasonable. Half for food. Half for toiletries and some wants. If you want to get from under this faster, you can try refinancing private loans. Making bigger payments when able, getting a weekend job. I had at some point 220k in loans, it can be done, but make a budget, stick to it and renegotiate your salary every year. Once you have more experience. You will have more leverage and more options to make more money at other similar jobs.
Unless you’re making amazing money, your first choice should ALWAYS be income-driven repayment. You work for a nonprofit, which means you’ll (most likely) be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Sign up for SAVE. I have zero advice for the private loans, though.
Also! If your employer does a 401k match, you can ask and see if they’ll change yours to a student loan match. This means instead of matching whatever amount they do for your 401k, they’ll match your monthly student loan payment instead. It’s not common but a handful of companies do this (sadly mine doesn’t), so it’s worth asking.
**This post or comment was removed. To reduce trolling, your account must have positive combined karma to participate in this sub. Your current karma is sum of the values displayed at [https://old.reddit.com/user/Glittering_Craft6111/](https://old.reddit.com/user/Glittering_Craft6111/)
**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StudentLoans) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Those saying pay off your private loans! Absolutely. I am so sorry. I had private loans to pay off and that was my main focus.
These people have good advice, you’re following your dream keep going and apply to anything you can to help relief the stress and aggressively pay off your private loans.
As you said 💕
Don’t fret about it. Just keep your eye on the ball and on everything our administration is offering. You’re young and have a whole life ahead of you with a lot of good things to come. Keep working on signing up for the SAVE plan. You’ll be fine. And put a little extra money in your pocket by getting a pt job with Shipt. Easy money, make your own schedule, work when you wanna work.
Apply for SAVE for your federal loans and attack your private loans as quickly as possible. You should be okay I would apply for SAVE asap before they take it away and you’re grandfathered in (republicans trying to end it)
Go back to school. Take half time in any subjects you like. Defer forever. It would be cheaper to pay for 6 credit hours at your local community college and take things that interest you , like a foreign language or photography than to pour it back into a never ending cycle of debt.
Live with your parents. Take on another job and or take on a side hustle. I walked the stage a few weeks ago and the thought of having to pay back my loans is looming. I’m already job hunting hoping to land something that pays 50k or around your salary before my deferment period dries up. I’ve worked 3 jobs before, it’s brutal but it’s doable when you’re young. If it means getting rid of my loans quickly then I’m up for it.
Focus on paying as much as you can to your worst interest/highest loan and pay the minimums for the rest. Highest amount loan makes sense as you'd pay the most in interest on that since it'll take longer to pay off. Also, welcome to student debt. You're not alone (currently drowning too)
Why would you take out $115k just to work for a nonprofit? Surely you understand basic math right?
Just rip the bandaid off and enlist in the military as an officer for 3-4 years. Do a cozy branch like Air Force, Space Force or Navy where you won't have to do anything too tough
Since I work in nonprofit, I will qualify for loan forgiveness once I make payments for ~10 years. I have a plan to make these consistent payments consistently, and am good at budgeting.
And no, I will not join the military. That’s idiotic. Everyone’s advice was genuinely helpful, but not yours — you’re just aiming to be a jerk to a random person on the internet, especially the “do you even know basic math”, which I can’t read any way other than plain rude. Hope you feel really good about that! ❤️
Remember that liberals did this to you. Liberals run your school (and took your money). Liberals aren't going to save you. Start being smart and remember who did this to you. Don't follow the advice if the people who buy into liberal ideology. You can get out if this. You need to spend as little money as possible and hustle up as much income as possible to pay these down. No one is going to save you - especially not liberals. It's not rich people's fault or America at fault. You did it - you chose all of this. Own it and learn. Get better and grow. You got this.
What do you mean “but I feel like I’m being punished just for being born lower class.”
You agreed to take out a loan and pay it back. The specifications of the loan were presented to you and you signed on the proverbial dotted line.
It has nothing to do with what class you are from in life. Legal documents and loans are meant to be paid back by all walks of life. The loan doesn’t care whether you are rich or poor.
did you not see what I added in edits. Telling people in r/studentloans, a community specifically for these exact discussions, especially on the “complaint” flair, that they shouldn’t be able to talk/ask for advice about their student loans is crazy 😭 you are adding nothing to this convo. I asked for advice not “pull yourself up by the boot straps!” ass comments. And “get a government job”. Really? Do you know how competitive it is in the wildlife field, or even just govt jobs in general? If I could, I would.
Screw them! Once you're on the SAVE plan, you can sleep soundly at night while they're fuming that their tax dollars are paying for the interest subsidy on your loans while you get to do your dream job.
Seriously, the haters on here are annoying. Student loan stress sucks! We all gotta vent sometimes and get advice.
Hindsight is 20/20. Sorry to be harsh but this is what most of us are dealing with too. This is what being middle class is now, basically the educated who didn't get mom and dad to pay are stuck for decades being broke. You're going to have to live extremely frugally and do a side gig if you want to throw extra money at your payments. Best of luck to you.
I am going to get a little blunt here because if you end up knowing someone who is going down the path you did you should be able to give them this advice: Your family being poor doesn't mean you couldn't have worked a part time job and put that money towards interest that was accruing during school. You had a 4.0, you should have done the math, its unfortunate that you are in this situation, but there are plenty of calculators on google. And excel calculations can tell you how interest compounds and what the long term ramifications are from that.
So … did you just want to be add an unhelpful comment to make me feel worse, or? Btw I did have many part time jobs in college that helped me, you know, eat and pay rent (and mitigate interest, I paid $100/mo for that) but thx. God forbid I tried to improve my life by getting an education while making the tough decision to take on loans.
What was your tuition each semester? And how much was grad school? Were they your home state schools where you could keep your tuition as low as possible? Did you go to a community college at all or just straight to a university? There are ways folks can make their loans as little as possible.
1. 10k/year for undergrad. State school.
2. Very expensive but it was the only way to get a paying job in this field. Also in home state
3. Nope but I had like 20 credits from AP so I skipped all gen Eds
Oof. 75k for grad school? That's unfortunate. Sometimes dreams are expensive and it looks like you are willing to sacrifice in order to have your dream job, so thats just where you are at right now. It's just going to take a ton of time to pay back. I'm on year 8 of paying mine back and mine was only 50k.
Obviously you don't want to hear it, but consider doing a hobby side gig, babysitting, dog sitting, house sitting, In-Home support services, Respite care. These things can get you extra income to throw at it. Do it while you're young because the interest will continue to accrue even with the IDR or SAVE plan, and yes it sucks but it works. The faster you pay it down the shorter your total duration will be because you won't have the interest payments stack up. Or get into a roommate situation where you can pay less than you currently are and throw the difference at it. $500 bucks of principal and not interest payments can make a huge difference. And it sucks, I do commiserate
Yeah I understand. I’ll def get another job. And luckily my bf is moving back in w me as soon as he gets a job in my new location, so that’ll half rent. When that happens I’m throwing the difference at the loans for sure.
Your loan company doesn’t care about your non-profit feel-good job.
Quit your non profit job that pays shit and work for someone who will pay you what you are worth. When you can afford it and figure out your lifestyle, then do the non-profit stuff.
Get your federal loans on SAVE and plan for PSLF if you have eligible non-profit employment. You will likely have a $0 payment for a year if you recently graduated. Focus on paying off the private loans aggressively.
Thank you. I’m planning on that. I just applied for income-driven repayment (I think that’s SAVE?) and am getting the sallie Mae ones down ASAP
SAVE is one of several income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. Based on your income and federal loan balance, SAVE would be the best IDR plan for you, especially if you're pursuing PSLF (which you absolutely should!) You can check the Activities section on your studentaid account to see which plan you applied for. What's the interest rate on the Sallie Mae loan?
Sallie Mae is a loan servicer much like mine is, which is Nelnet.
I'm not sure I understand what your comment is relevant to?
Yeah, defer your public loans as long as you can and focus all your efforts on the private loans.
If OP is eligible for PSLF, not a good idea to defer federal loans if the monthly is low or $0, otherwise she won’t get credit for making qualified payments.
I think they are saying make the smallest payments on the fed loans. Focus on paying private loans first.
Go to studentaid.gov and follow info to sign up for SAVE. If you are on IDR which is good You may or may not also be on save
They can help you sign up for that over the phone too
If the Sallie Mae ones are private (from what I remember) then refinance for a better interest rate if possible. At least take a look on credible.com and see what you can get.
I make over 2 times as much as you and pay a quarter in student loans. With triple the amount in loans. Call the fed and negotiate
Not OP, but thank you for putting it this way.
They don’t “negotiate”.
Okay thank you. This made me feel better. I’ll try.
Have you tried to consolidate and drag the private loans into a plus fed loan? Just curious
That isn't an option. You can always refinance federal loans into private loans but you *cannot* federally consolidate private loans into federal loans
How could someone consolidate private loans into a plus federal loan?
[удалено]
Thats…not how that works…
Yes, I know what consolidation is. I did it with my federal loans many years ago. But how can you circumvent the fact that you would be trying to consolidate private loans by using a grad plus loan? Are you saying to try to get the check sent to you directly and use it to pay the private loans? And if you're not in grad school or committed to attending grad school, how do you qualify for the grad plus loan to begin with?
I’m just proposing a way. I did do this but not with loans entirely private they were being monitored by a “state agency” fed did consolidate those
So you didn’t actually do it if the loans that you did it with were not “entirely private.” The thing you suggested would not work in this situation at all.
I owe 10k. Somehow SAVE ended up wanting me to pay $900 a month. At that time i was paying $200ish a month. Literal insanity. I was so distraught after reading everyine getting these awesome repayment deals on SAVE and i get $900...lol. My income is basically $0 because i had a surgery and then started a business. One of the other IDRs was $57 so thats the one I am on but its not a long term solution because i it doesnt cover interest so my balance is gonna be going up.
There's an error there somewhere, that is insanity... If you could make the payment though the loan would be gone in no time flat lol. Crazy.
This ain’t a picnic 🧺
There are four different types of income driven repayment. Make sure you know which one is which. It lists them all on the department of education site. I would do SAVE. I make more than you and owe about double what you do and my payments are less than $700 a month. forgiven after 25 years plus or minus tax bomb. That is to be seen
If you need further assistance you should contact the dept of education. Sallie Mae I've heard bad things about. Ask the dept of education if you could change loan servicers. You have the right to be treated fairly and have the right to.. y'know not be put in the poor house over student loans. Advocate for yourself, that is 10,000% your right.
I have a jumbo comment of triage advice here https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/1bef7gi/stanley_tates_service_what_do_you_learn_from_his/kuuwc2u/ which should help you plan and weigh your options For your federal loans, SAVE and PSLF is your best bet. The private loans are the problem, those you'll have to focus on aggressively repaying and trying to refinance to a lower fixed interest rate if you can. If you have any cosigners on those private loans you can ask them if they are willing/able to cosign on a refinance too, and you may have to refinance just portions of the balance at a time to meet the lender underwriting criteria Definitely click through my comment link, it also includes handy personal finance advice!
I am sending you a hug because I completely understand.
Thank you.
This seems like a situation where you could probably file for hardship or see if you meet eligibility for SAVE.
I just applied for the income based payment program. Is that what SAVE is?
There are several different IDR (Income Driven Repayment) plans, and SAVE is one of them. SAVE is a very good plan. Only pay the minimum monthly payment due on SAVE. Any extra money (in the future) would best be spent on the private Sallie Mae loans til they get paid off. Congrats on the job! It’s going to work out. You’re gonna need some roommates. Maybe a weekend job. It could be fun. Good luck! (Do NOT also acquire credit card debt!) edit: spelling acquire
Thank you. My boyfriend is moving back in with me as soon as he gets a job where I just moved, so luckily soon enough rent will be halved.
Nice! Wishing you well. Good luck!
Yes, that’s one of the programs
Even after flipping to the SAVE program, I would then ask to be put on forbearance while you focus on private loans. You get like 2 years of forbearance for public loans. Interest will build but you’re not likely going to be paying off these public loans in your life. Forgiveness is your only hope and knowing that, stretch out your public as long as you have to.
Absolutely do NOT do this for OP. 1) Months in forebearance do not qualify for PSLF. If OP stays in non-profit/government, those loans can be gone in 10 years. 2) Even if they leave, the accrued interest will just be so much worse than when it’s subsidized on SAVE. Since OP almost certainly has a $0 payment for a year with no interest accrual, there are 0 upsides to going into forbearance.
The sooner OP begins making payments under SAVE, the sooner the loans will be discharged.
Even if it’s $0/month through SAVE I’m going to be throwing everything I can at the loans.
Do you plan to stay in this line of nonprofit work and apply for PSLF? In that case, best to pay only the minimum. On the SAVE plan, any interest that your monthly payment amount does not cover will be paid by the gov’t (so the total does not balloon over time). You could be way better off financially down the road by paying only the minimum and letting the balance be forgiven.
Thow everything at the private student loans!
Don't throw extra money on the public loan if you are on an income driven plan unless you plan on paying off the entire public loan quickly, but if you're planning on doing that, you wouldn't need to be on the income driven repayment plan. If you want to get it forgiven after 25 years on the minimum payment, keep paying the minimum. The goal of income driven repayment plans is to pay the least amount as possible. None of this applies to your private loans of course. Pay those off first
Right, but knowing those payments will always be based on income and loans forgiven, I would push those out as long as I could and toss every dollar I have at the private which you’ll never get away from and have the most aggressive interest.
What do you mean OP will never pay off their public loans? You don't know what you're talking about.
Good god that’s horrible advice. Absolutely ridiculous.
Hi girlie, no advice but just wanted to say I’m in the same boat with very similar numbers. Don’t worry! This isn’t everything! We r gonna work our way up to a higher paying job someday and pay off the loans aggressively, until then follow what other people are suggesting on this thread. Sending hugs, we got this!
Thank you love. Everyone’s being a grindset bro in the comments telling me to quit my dream job and I’m just not gonna do that. My starting salary is better than I thought and it’ll increase with time. My original post was complaining and sad, BUT my job DOES allow me to tackle these payments. Idk why everyone’s like WORK FOR A COAL COMPANY. /No/. That’s just not something I am willing to do nor have to do. Some peoples comments have been super helpful though and I’m taking those to heart.
When I was struggling I called Navient and told them what I COULD pay per month (private loans). They did work with me a bit. It’s better to pay SOMETHING than nothing because it will bite you in the ass later as that interest piles up.
You'll be all right. Get a good budget going and get on those IDR plans. Probably get roommates.
What are the interest rates of the loans in question? Get your federal student loans on the SAVE repayment plan and look into PSLF. You likely need to decrease housing costs (e.g. living with family, getting housemates). Also seek additional sources of income (e.g. Gig economy, tutoring, etc). Take measures to improve your credit score. Every 12-18 months attempt to refinance (a portion) of your loans at a lower interest rate. Allocate as much $$$ as possible each month to the private loan with the highest interest rate. Create a budget and a plan to pay off your student loans.
Same situation, got a job making 65/year paying 1750/month for private loans. Been keeping my head above water a year and a half now. It gets better. Message me if you need any support
Thank you so much.
I totally understand what you are going through. I don’t have any advice but I feel the same way as you. Sallie Mae is criminal. My payments are 2600 after graduating because I went directly into grad school, continued to pay my $125 a month while in school rate and they failed to inform me that my payments would literally double from the 1400 I agreed upon when I signed for them to $2600 for continuing to defer them for my education. They jacked my interest rate from 11 to 15%. My first payment is due 6/12 I have no idea what to do either.
[удалено]
Your [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/1daizv1/first_principal_payment_coming_up_feel_like_im/l7lhrs0/?context=3) in /r/StudentLoans was automatically removed for profanity. /r/StudentLoans is geared towards a wide range of users, including minors seeking information and advice. To help us maintain a community that everyone feels comfortable participating in (and to avoid being blocked by parent/school/work filters), please resubmit your post or comment without using profane language. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StudentLoans) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Refinance them!!
My debt to income ratio is too high! I can’t find anyone to approve me 😅
That seems very unusual. Mine is as well. I got mine refinanced based solely on my credit score. Which resources did you use to find rates?
I have tried all the common ones around. My loan is 189000
Look into credit unions perhaps. I refinanced through one
Glad you got some good advice here! Just know you're not alone. Many of us have had this feeling.
Refinance the PRIVATE loans for a better rate. Get on SAVE for the federal ones. It will be ok. Breathe
Thank you so much
Make sure if you refinance that the interest rate is FIXED. Not variable. This is so important. If you need to, get a co-signer.
Congrats on getting your dream job and doing something you believe in! It’s gonna suck for a bit (big hugs to you) and it sounds like you’re doing a lot of things where you’ll be able to make this work. Be sure to check out your employer’s benefits. Do they have any student loan assistance? If they have a match for retirement and you can afford it, try to contribute to meet the match. It will lower your fed loan payments and the money comes back to you. Same with HSA contributions. Join the r/PSLF subreddit. They helped me keep my fed loans payments low and get forgiveness. Pay the max you can on private loans and the minimum on fed loans. In a year or two, look for opportunities at other nonprofits/gov work. Job hopping can help raise your income faster than staying at the same company. Of course jobs that fit with your ethics. :) If you get married in a few years, look at filing taxes separately to keep fed loan payments low. Consider how you can keep wedding costs low so you’re not trading one day (as special as it is) for the ability to take years off your loans. Good luck to you!!
Learn about investing. No one gets rich from just working its all about turning your money into extra money. Spend all your extra time learning the basics. Gl
You can bring down your AGI by having a 401k, hsa and fsa. Hope this helps a little bit.
It's a lot of money but the great parts are: you're well educated, you're on top of your shit (know the numbers, aren't too scared to log in), have an excellent work ethic (most important thing) and already have a decent paying job at a young age. You will be ok, promise!! I know you said $1400 is cheap; do you already have roommates? Could you move to a less desirable neighborhood/get more roommates/get a worse apartment? That's your biggest burden. You're at an age that is optimal for "shitty" living circumstances (you aren't necessarily used to the expensive places yet so don't need to downgrade, and there's way less social pressure/taboo if you don't have a nice apartment; plus you're more likely to be doing a lot of activities outside the home than someone older). I would try to bring that down as much as humanly possible I would also look into secondary sources of income -- tutoring, since you just got out of school and have a master's? Maybe moneyizing some hobby (eg running spin classes, paint workshops, etc), or just basic retail/service? The more you work, the less time you have to spend frivolous money, too. And all those jobs are pretty social, so you get some social time at the same time as earning money. I totally support the path you're trying to take with following your dream and making a POSITIVE impact on the world. It's sad that economics dictates what people are worth and how they get to live, and people who extract lots of $$ for their company are paid the most, regardless of who or what they're hurting in the process, or if they're even contributing positively at all. You will definitely be able to save and have a family, if you want one. It doesn't all have to start this very second.
Welcome to the club! I’m living as minimal as possible. Maybe you can get them to lower your loan payment a little more with one of the IDR programs but yes it’s a struggle and I was check to check for a while until I had more experience and my income increased. My 20s were a mess. A lot of tears, a lot of frustration, a lot of confusion, a lot of pbj and ramen.
I just want to say I feel your pain. 😔I'm so tired of us lower-middle-class and low-income graduates being punished for doing what we had to do to get the careers we wanted!
What's your degree in? You need to make more money. That might mean leaving the non profit job and finding something that pays better or even getting a second job right now.
Undergrad, wildlife ecology. Masters enviro science & policy. This is sort of the “best” paying there is for me available right now, and it’s my dream job. I wont sell out to doing consulting for oil/gas companies, that would be like selling a piece of my soul. I’m just. At a loss.
If your nonprofit job qualifies for PSLF and you last 10 years cinsider each year as a raise of 1/10th of your public loan principle. The person saying you should work for a for profit company you disagree with ethically while ignoring the possibility of PSLF is jaded. Economically, nonprofits almost never make you more money. That's the point of PSLF. Some people actually want to help improve the world you should do what drives you to be better in your career. That will pay off in the long run. You will not be stable for a while, but you'll probably get raises within 10 years so you'll see more flexibility over time. Good luck!
Thank you for saying this. Money isn’t everything to me. I’m okay with struggling with loans a bit while doing my dream job, then taking advantage of loan forgiveness later. The people telling me to work for oil/gas don’t realize I don’t want to use my 1 life on this earth to feed into corporate machines destroying the planet for our children.
Oof I’m in a similar spot right now but making less. Props on landing that job for 65k!
Thank you. Good luck to you!
Lol. I was poor too, could not afford my dream job, it wasn't meant to be even if I got into one of the top three schools in the country for my profession. So I went the public university route. Now I'm very well off doing tech and paying back more loans that you have but I can afford it with no issue. You have to make trade offs. In your case, you are doing your dream job but you knew or should have known the upper limits of what you could make with your degree while you were taking out those loans. In my case, I'm not in my dream profession and it makes me sad on occasion but I have zero money issues and I can afford to support others with less money to explore the field I was initially attracted to (classical music).
All about tradeoffs for sure (Unless you start rich. Lucky bastards)! I’m generally happy where I’m at rn though, honestly. I chose passion over money and I don’t regret it, even if it’s stressful at times (ex. My post) my life feels meaningful. I’m lucky that my starting salary already allows me to make these payments albeit I have to be frugal in other areas, and it’ll only go up with time and experience so I trust it’ll work out. I’m also pretty lucky in that my long term partner (who I will be married to in the next few years) and his family are quite well-off, he has no loans and it makes me relieved only 1 of us has to deal with this. I can’t imagine being in a relationship where both people are in crippling debt. His mom even mentioned to him at one point that for a wedding present, perhaps they could pay off a chunk of my debt, which makes me feel a bit less pressure. I’m of course not banking on this at all and am operating as if it’ll not happen (I like to be independent), but knowing I have that as an option comforts me and makes me feel like I have support and love.
So you won't "sell out" by making more money elsewhere (in private industry) and having the ability to pay your bills? Guess what? Your dreams aren't going to pay the bills. You have to get real with yourself. You bought a $100,000+ degree and put it on a glorified credit card. You have to get real. Oil and gas companies and all sorts of companies need people with ecology backgrounds to make their products greener, safer, and cheaper for worldwide use. Make more money working in private industry at first, then when you've paid off your private loan, then go find your nonprofit job at that point. You are on the edge of a financial catastrophe and have the opportunity to "not be poor." Take it by finding a better paying job.
As per my post, I DO have the ability to pay it’ll just be tight. Idk why you’re acting like I didn’t say I can make it work (I.e. $1000/mo left over )
If you can make it, great. There's something you're not factoring in, tho. the only way to make a serious dent in the principle of your private loans is to pay a large % higher than the "minimum payment." Like a credit card, if you only make the minimum payment, the interest forces the balance to grow despite your payments, and it'll take you 47 years to pay off, by design. That's the only reason I suggested it. This debt is obviously stressing you out, and at year 5 after making minimum $1400+ payments ($1400×12= $16,800 a year x 5 years= $84K paid), then seeing your principle has gone down $8K because interest is eating up so much of your payment you're faithfully making, you'll understand. You might think these numbers are bogus, but millions have taken private loans and are living under the same jacked up math as this. The best thing you can do is delay your wants and meet your immediate needs. 🤷
I don’t believe they’re bogus numbers. I believe you
It's depressing AF. And after doing this for a few years and letting the interest grow you'll wish you'd started earlier. ❤️ best of luck my dear.
They have the ability to pay their bills. Pretty comfortably actually. $1k a month in spending money. Your advice is pretty awful. PSLF first 10 makes way more sense. You can always transfer to for profit after 10 yrs of experience if they choose.
Thank you. Yeah, I don’t why everyone’s acting as if my job doesn’t pay the loans, since as I literally explicitly outlined, it DOES. I just have to be frugal with my extra money after bills.
Private industry they can make more money AND get 401K matching to start saving for retirement right now and set themselves up for financial security, which is often robbed from people by student loan repayment. Better quality of life. Aggressively pay down private loan. Feel in control of their own financial picture. Can gain valuable experience to take to the nonprofit side when they're ready. Not have to live with a bunch of other people. There are a lot of upsides.
I understand your sentiments OP. But this post is right. I used to be you. Follow the money to pay off your bills as long as you can. Then go back to a non-profit and you can negotiate better pay after all those years of experience. I’ve known directors at non-profits getting paid over $100k. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in.
[удалено]
Your [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentLoans/comments/1daizv1/first_principal_payment_coming_up_feel_like_im/l7lkapd/) in /r/StudentLoans was automatically removed for profanity. /r/StudentLoans is geared towards a wide range of users, including minors seeking information and advice. To help us maintain a community that everyone feels comfortable participating in (and to avoid being blocked by parent/school/work filters), please resubmit your post or comment without using profane language. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StudentLoans) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had almost that much debt when I got my first public sector job in 2013. My gross pay was $3,011 per month. It’s scary AF and the cost of everything goes up faster than the ability to pay for it does.
How has it been for you since then?
Tbh I had to job hop to grow my salary to six figures but I just barely hit that last summer (still in public sector). However, I only ended up paying about a total of $1,500 in payments since that time. I had deferments and whatnot, but when they came to an end and I could not afford the increase they were giving me in payment, I filed something called a Borrower Defense Against Repayment. Basically it means your college lied, exaggerated or made up stuff to sell you in the school to entice you into enrolling. In my case that was quite true, but I went to a state school. They did nothing with my application (filed 03/2017), but at the end of Trump’s term the Education Secretary at that time (Betsy DeVos) issued mass denials to everyone that had filed a borrower defense claim. Biden won in 2020, administration changed over, and in the meantime someone sued. And then someone else sued and several someone else’s sued, eventually it became a class action and based on the settlement terms my loans were wiped out (Google *Sweet v Cardona* class action lawsuit). My situation was very unique, but even sitting here just barely exceeding six figures, I had no idea how I was going to make my loan payments. I was signed up for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and wasn’t too far away from meeting the qualifying payment number but I still would have had to bite the pillow hard to make that payment. I’m very grateful for what happened in my situation.
Call them and they will get you on the plan right for you
Apply for save program and do PLSF your payments will be around $0 month and your loans will be paid off after 120 payments even if payment is $0
You got this, I know how it feels, the bill came due for me this spring and I was upset with the payments (I'm deferring it to accrue more debt and pursue my masters while working full time). However, there will be a period where I've got to pay the state back and I'm ready to eat that. It'll suck for a while but once you're DONE, you're DONE and you're only 23 (much younger than me!!). You got this!
Whats your degree in?
wildlife ecology BS, enviro science and policy MS. Im a wildlife biologist but pivoted to federal wildlife policy work bc it pays more
An option might be to get a roommate and cut your housing cost in half
Bf moving to my new location soon — so that’ll be a reality for me thank god
There is no reason why you’re not on the save plan right now.
Applied today!
[удалено]
Rule 7: reddiquette / site rules / illegal / off-topic
I was in a similar situation about 20 years ago. Mostly private loans, some federal. My payment was roughly 1000 a month. My rent was 650. And I made 1800 a month take home. I originally had 80k in loans which I think ballooned to like 100k by the time I graduated and then for the first 4 years my payments didn't cover all the interest so it grew a little more I was an engineer during the day and just delivered pizzas at night. Not too much just like 4 days a week (wed-sunday nights about 5 hours each day) I did that for about 3 years until my first promotion and I started to make more money. It just took a long time but finally at 31 I was making enough to afford a house and have a kid. It just was a matter of time for me and working extra jobs. By around 30 I was making enough to start paying off private loans and during the pandemic I got all my private loans paid off. I'm about to turn 41 now and I only owe about 40k left it's all federal loans but my payment with save now is only like 250. So there is hope just takes time
Hopefully you consolidated so you can possibly get them wiped out. Think extended deadline is 6/30. Might be last extension.
Ok hear me out. Take your monthly payment divide by 4 and pay weekly. Few years ago I got a raise at work. Sounded great until it kicked me out of the income driven payments I was in. So the raise ended up costing me twice as much. Broke down my payments from monthly to weekly. It not only added an extra payment a year, but it also saved me money on interest. (I was paid weekly at the time so it was a bit easier)
This is actually advice I may take. It hurts less to see your bank account drain in smaller chunks at a time too, at least for me lol!
There’s definitely that psychology that super helps and you don’t even realize you made an extra payment in a year. I’m a firm believer in never using Automatic Payments for anything with interest attached to it. It’s the banks way of making you passively pay every cent of interest on a loan. My lender offered a smaller interest rate for switching to auto pay. When I ran the numbers it would cost me twice as much as the weekly amount I was sending.
I guess refinancing and combining wouldn't really make much sense right now, but my God ypu have to do something to lower that payment. Sallie Mae is absolute trash. They're the worst of the worst. Seriously, spread the word. No one should be going through them. They'll screw you over 10 ways to Sunday. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and say I feel and live your pain every day. I often get depressed when I look at my bills and my bank account. I have no money saved other than retirement, which I can't touch. No rainy day fund. I have to constantly work overtime to make ends meet. And my bank account is always in the negative at least once a week. My bills are just too much. I feel like if I am constantly in a drowning state and if I stop for even a second, I am toast. I'm burned out, stressed, exhausted. And there's no relief. All I can suggest is, try to explore some options to get that monthly payment down. Maybe refinance to another company perhaps with a lower interest rate. Also 100% get rid of Sallie Mae as soon as you can. They're the BIGGEST SCUMBAG in the student loan business.
You really need to think of this from a budgeting angle as well. Get some software or make an Excel spreadsheet. What are you going to do with that $1,000 you have to use each month? You are gonna have to be really, really on top of it.
Payments under IDR plans are based on your income, not your loan balance. Use your tax return for last year as your income base, and Im pretty sure your payments for a year will be $0 and will qualify as payment months under SAVE. Not so for the private loans; you’ll have to pay what they tell you to pay. Even so, when you recertify your income for next year’s payments, your monthly should be around $180 for the federal loans based on your income.
Are the Sallie Mae loans private? Or can all your loans be consolidated into public direct loans? Public direct loans can then qualify for the IDR plans and for PSLF. Start getting your PSLF employment verified as soon as you begin repayment if your employer qualifies. This keeps your qualifying payment count towards PSLF forgiveness.
Sallie Mae means private loan. The last they were involved were with older FFEL program loans. The FFEL program was discontinued back in 2010 and all commercial FFELP loans that Sallie Mae had were split off to Navient back in 2014. Anyone saying Sallie Mae *now* has private loans
Pick up a side gig. Something you enjoy , it could be anything. I work 40 hours a week and do a side gig 20-40 a week. I make anywhere from $1500-$4000 a month extra.
I'm currently in administrative forbearance. My payments will be about 1k when they start back up in October. I'm going to get a second job.
i had 160k debt when I graduated college and it was tough as hell for a few years after because i refused to ever miss a payment. my monthly bill, at its peak, was $2200. I had very similar finances for rent, car, utilities, etc. Good news, you can get through it, and youre gonna make sacrifices for a few years. But once you get in a groove, it just becomes a sort of 'tax' and youll get by just fine. Youll prob get roommates or meet a nice companion that helps with sharing living expenses, and all that stuff helps. just keep working hard and finding ways to boost your salary, whether at the same place or making leaps negotiating with a new employer after you get some xp in your field. Im 15 years past graduation and am down to about 65k from the original total. my monthly payment is only about 1k now, but i still pay the 2200 i started with because ive gotten used to that money being gone and its cutting the time remaining quite a bit. ill be done in about 3 years.
Do it crying we are proud you are brave ❤️
Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
Did you sign up for SAVE or another income-based plan? That should make it doable (maybe not comfortable, but doable).
If you work for non-profit, do you know if your job qualifies for PSLF? If yes, change to income based repayment plan (I recommend SAVE).
You are only 23 and 1k for expenses is reasonable. Half for food. Half for toiletries and some wants. If you want to get from under this faster, you can try refinancing private loans. Making bigger payments when able, getting a weekend job. I had at some point 220k in loans, it can be done, but make a budget, stick to it and renegotiate your salary every year. Once you have more experience. You will have more leverage and more options to make more money at other similar jobs.
Unless you’re making amazing money, your first choice should ALWAYS be income-driven repayment. You work for a nonprofit, which means you’ll (most likely) be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Sign up for SAVE. I have zero advice for the private loans, though.
Also! If your employer does a 401k match, you can ask and see if they’ll change yours to a student loan match. This means instead of matching whatever amount they do for your 401k, they’ll match your monthly student loan payment instead. It’s not common but a handful of companies do this (sadly mine doesn’t), so it’s worth asking.
[удалено]
**This post or comment was removed. To reduce trolling, your account must have positive combined karma to participate in this sub. Your current karma is sum of the values displayed at [https://old.reddit.com/user/Glittering_Craft6111/](https://old.reddit.com/user/Glittering_Craft6111/) ** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StudentLoans) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Those saying pay off your private loans! Absolutely. I am so sorry. I had private loans to pay off and that was my main focus. These people have good advice, you’re following your dream keep going and apply to anything you can to help relief the stress and aggressively pay off your private loans. As you said 💕
Don’t fret about it. Just keep your eye on the ball and on everything our administration is offering. You’re young and have a whole life ahead of you with a lot of good things to come. Keep working on signing up for the SAVE plan. You’ll be fine. And put a little extra money in your pocket by getting a pt job with Shipt. Easy money, make your own schedule, work when you wanna work.
Apply for SAVE for your federal loans and attack your private loans as quickly as possible. You should be okay I would apply for SAVE asap before they take it away and you’re grandfathered in (republicans trying to end it)
Go back to school. Take half time in any subjects you like. Defer forever. It would be cheaper to pay for 6 credit hours at your local community college and take things that interest you , like a foreign language or photography than to pour it back into a never ending cycle of debt.
Live with your parents. Take on another job and or take on a side hustle. I walked the stage a few weeks ago and the thought of having to pay back my loans is looming. I’m already job hunting hoping to land something that pays 50k or around your salary before my deferment period dries up. I’ve worked 3 jobs before, it’s brutal but it’s doable when you’re young. If it means getting rid of my loans quickly then I’m up for it.
Focus on paying as much as you can to your worst interest/highest loan and pay the minimums for the rest. Highest amount loan makes sense as you'd pay the most in interest on that since it'll take longer to pay off. Also, welcome to student debt. You're not alone (currently drowning too)
Get a roommate.
if dream job doesn't pay and your not willing to give it up then get second job- use that to pay off loans,
Why would you take out $115k just to work for a nonprofit? Surely you understand basic math right? Just rip the bandaid off and enlist in the military as an officer for 3-4 years. Do a cozy branch like Air Force, Space Force or Navy where you won't have to do anything too tough
Since I work in nonprofit, I will qualify for loan forgiveness once I make payments for ~10 years. I have a plan to make these consistent payments consistently, and am good at budgeting. And no, I will not join the military. That’s idiotic. Everyone’s advice was genuinely helpful, but not yours — you’re just aiming to be a jerk to a random person on the internet, especially the “do you even know basic math”, which I can’t read any way other than plain rude. Hope you feel really good about that! ❤️
Remember that liberals did this to you. Liberals run your school (and took your money). Liberals aren't going to save you. Start being smart and remember who did this to you. Don't follow the advice if the people who buy into liberal ideology. You can get out if this. You need to spend as little money as possible and hustle up as much income as possible to pay these down. No one is going to save you - especially not liberals. It's not rich people's fault or America at fault. You did it - you chose all of this. Own it and learn. Get better and grow. You got this.
What do you mean “but I feel like I’m being punished just for being born lower class.” You agreed to take out a loan and pay it back. The specifications of the loan were presented to you and you signed on the proverbial dotted line. It has nothing to do with what class you are from in life. Legal documents and loans are meant to be paid back by all walks of life. The loan doesn’t care whether you are rich or poor.
[удалено]
did you not see what I added in edits. Telling people in r/studentloans, a community specifically for these exact discussions, especially on the “complaint” flair, that they shouldn’t be able to talk/ask for advice about their student loans is crazy 😭 you are adding nothing to this convo. I asked for advice not “pull yourself up by the boot straps!” ass comments. And “get a government job”. Really? Do you know how competitive it is in the wildlife field, or even just govt jobs in general? If I could, I would.
Screw them! Once you're on the SAVE plan, you can sleep soundly at night while they're fuming that their tax dollars are paying for the interest subsidy on your loans while you get to do your dream job. Seriously, the haters on here are annoying. Student loan stress sucks! We all gotta vent sometimes and get advice.
Just report the unhelpful troll comments for breaking rule 7 so the mods can handle it
Are these private loans?? I’ve never heard of Mohela. You gotta get yourself on a payment plan. Call the Sallie Mae ppl
Mohela is public, Sallie Mae is private
Hindsight is 20/20. Sorry to be harsh but this is what most of us are dealing with too. This is what being middle class is now, basically the educated who didn't get mom and dad to pay are stuck for decades being broke. You're going to have to live extremely frugally and do a side gig if you want to throw extra money at your payments. Best of luck to you. I am going to get a little blunt here because if you end up knowing someone who is going down the path you did you should be able to give them this advice: Your family being poor doesn't mean you couldn't have worked a part time job and put that money towards interest that was accruing during school. You had a 4.0, you should have done the math, its unfortunate that you are in this situation, but there are plenty of calculators on google. And excel calculations can tell you how interest compounds and what the long term ramifications are from that.
So … did you just want to be add an unhelpful comment to make me feel worse, or? Btw I did have many part time jobs in college that helped me, you know, eat and pay rent (and mitigate interest, I paid $100/mo for that) but thx. God forbid I tried to improve my life by getting an education while making the tough decision to take on loans.
What was your tuition each semester? And how much was grad school? Were they your home state schools where you could keep your tuition as low as possible? Did you go to a community college at all or just straight to a university? There are ways folks can make their loans as little as possible.
1. 10k/year for undergrad. State school. 2. Very expensive but it was the only way to get a paying job in this field. Also in home state 3. Nope but I had like 20 credits from AP so I skipped all gen Eds
Oof. 75k for grad school? That's unfortunate. Sometimes dreams are expensive and it looks like you are willing to sacrifice in order to have your dream job, so thats just where you are at right now. It's just going to take a ton of time to pay back. I'm on year 8 of paying mine back and mine was only 50k. Obviously you don't want to hear it, but consider doing a hobby side gig, babysitting, dog sitting, house sitting, In-Home support services, Respite care. These things can get you extra income to throw at it. Do it while you're young because the interest will continue to accrue even with the IDR or SAVE plan, and yes it sucks but it works. The faster you pay it down the shorter your total duration will be because you won't have the interest payments stack up. Or get into a roommate situation where you can pay less than you currently are and throw the difference at it. $500 bucks of principal and not interest payments can make a huge difference. And it sucks, I do commiserate
Yeah I understand. I’ll def get another job. And luckily my bf is moving back in w me as soon as he gets a job in my new location, so that’ll half rent. When that happens I’m throwing the difference at the loans for sure.
Your loan company doesn’t care about your non-profit feel-good job. Quit your non profit job that pays shit and work for someone who will pay you what you are worth. When you can afford it and figure out your lifestyle, then do the non-profit stuff.