How much student loan debt do you owe?

zero from undergrad (paid the small 1500 loan I took the year after I graduated) but I am now up to 24k for grad school

 

Lunacy. That's a blatant wage-slavery set-up.

 

at least you didn't have to study :grin:

 

Yeah, it was in interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies! What was she thinking?

 

I worked in the International group in economica analysis (good part of the company)...first in Central America projects, then Asia Pacific ones...with all the bad pub for the crap exec's did, it really was a great place to work/learn...

Divorce her now!!! lol...j/k

on another note, I would consider school loans to be "good debt" only if you a) get a high paying job b/c of your degree and b) have the salary to pay them off...IMHO, you should never pay for something you expect no value or return on...

 

This is a smart move and currently what I am doing. There are things you have to be aware of though.

You may have a higher interest rate through the 10 years on this plan than with the original loan. You absolutely cannot be late with any payment for the amount to be forgiven after 10 years. Also, once you're on an income-based repayment plan, you cannot switch back to a regular plan. If your income increases then most likely so will your monthly payments. If you leave the public sector, then you will have to pay on the loans for 25 years before they are actually forgiven.

BUT.....

My loan payment of $172/month on this plan totally beats the $500+ month payment I would have been paying originally. Plus, to take care of the late payment just sign up for automatic payments and you'll be good. The income increases in the public sector are usually slight and the overall gain on monthly payments isn't much. There really is no need to want to switch unless you'll be going from $50,000/year to $200,000/year. Leaving the public sector is definitely on a lot of people's minds that are in it, from my experience anyway, but if you can tough it out it usually isn't bad at all. I get paid enough to live comfortably and have some very good benefits too.

 

3,000

 

This.

Lol, I've been marked forever.

 

Seems like. lol

 

You have to get over the mindset of paying off the smallest loan, the key is to pay off as much as possible of the loan with the highest interest rate. Paying off a smaller loan may satisfy your eyes when you look at the number of loans out there but you won't be saving money.

 

I asked Mulder earlier in this thread, but have not received a response yet: I wanted to get in on this program but haven't been able to find a public sector job yet. If you don't mind me asking, what type of job did you get? I would love to be able to get a public sector job that allows me to move out of my current state (preferably to Texas).

Also, $172/month payment seems crazy low. How much salary do you make to have that low of a loan payment? (Isn't IBR based on salary?) Feel free to disregard this question if you aren't comfortable talking about salary.

 

I enjoy my anonymity on the board but I can tell you I work for the UH system and I am a full time staff member. (I know that doesn't help at all. Sorry.)

The good news is there is a LOT of stuff that is considered public sector. Any job working for a local, county, state, or federal entity should count.

 

Exactly. I have received job offers, but unless they are paying 3x what I am making now, ultimately it is not worth the switch.

My interest rate is capped at 8.5% so it is not that big a deal.

 

Yeah, the interest rate is fixed at 8.5% on my loan as well. Even though my other loans were from 2.6% to 6.8% I did the math and doing the forgiveness plan is going to save me about $30,000 under my current payment plan even though my interest rate got bumped up from the former.

Also, I had some loans that were small and I did not consolidate them and paid them off which I forgot to mention you can do as well, choose which loans you want to consolidate into this plan.

 

Good enough. Thank you. I understand and am sympathetic to enjoying forum anonymity.

I consolidated all of mine into the program and I am currently on income-based repayment, but I have a private sector job at the moment. My interest rate is fixed at 7.375%, interestingly enough.

 

I don't doubt that. I have several friends who worked there and they all say the same thing. Always talking about how much they miss it, actually.

So I take it you worked under Mark/Sutton? The part that Skilling always tried so hard to get rid of? A relative of mine knows Joe Sutton and says he's one of the nicest (and richest....) guys he's ever been around.

 

that is a good advise but it is hard to do to if you are not single. the family needs a vacation time at least once a year and car and home maintenance can be costly.

 

Are you serious?

 

i'm lucky my parents set aside a college fund for me, and i got a few scholarships, so i am debt-free after graduating in 2009. they said i'd have to foot the bill for grad school...**** that. i'll take a slightly smaller salary over debt 10/10 times.