u/Quiet_Suspect_5307

I’m 35 and used to play pretty seriously from 5th-12th grade and then sporadically post college and am now trying to get into shape again to join a community orchestra. I have the usual things like Arbans etc but I am finding that much like with physical fitness I struggle when I don’t have a plan set for me and accountability (I use the Trainwell app for workouts which works well for me). I’m looking to pay someone who may be willing to lesson plan for me and maybe provide *occasional* coaching via recorded video and/or over zoom. I am relatively confident in my own ear so the synchronous coaching is less important than someone who can commit to checking up on me over chat/text.

Is this something that folks already offer or would be willing to try out? I’ve looked into some sites like preply and they are more focused on the live lessons from what I can tell.

Context: 78k across four direct/grad loans from my masters program (finished in 2019). Not sure the exact numbers but made somewhere around half the payments due to COVID and SAVE forbearances and have only worked at 501c3s my entire career. Interest rate is about 6.5% on average.

I started a new job in January 2024 that offered $100/month student loan benefit managed through Gradifi. At the time, everything was in forbearance anyways so I enrolled figuring it could at least help take down the interest once it began accruing again (and it was free money, so to speak).

What’s changed since then:
- My company changed their approach and now are often a package of different benefits up to a 5k cap. Gradifi is one option but I could now use that $1200 elsewhere like for professional development or coworking space (I am 100% remote).
- In April, I bit the bullet and applied for (new) IBR and made my first payment. As I mostly expected, the autopay does not take into account the $100 that could theoretically be reduced due to the additional payment. I make roughly 150k and my payment is $870ish which is rough but bearable.

So my question is - can folks confirm whether I can disable autopay and make only the “required” payment ($100 less) and have it be a qualifying payment? Or does it have to be the full amount no matter what? If the latter, it seems like this benefit will not really serve me, correct?