r/StudentLoans

I am hitting a wall and just need to vent to people who actually understand how paralyzing this debt is. My partner and I are both 34. We have been together for five years, we have stable office jobs, and we desperately want to have a child before our biology makes it significantly harder and more expensive.

We sat down last night to build a realistic budget for a baby, and it was the most depressing exercise of my life.

Between my undergraduate loans and his master's degree, our combined monthly student loan payment is just under twelve hundred dollars. To put that in perspective, that is higher than the mortgage on the townhouse we are currently renting. We have been paying consistently for over a decade, but because of the way the interest accrued early on, the balances barely budge.

When you add up daycare costs, basic healthcare premiums, food, and utilities, the math completely shatters. There is literally no room left to breathe. If we had a kid right now, a single emergency—like a broken car transmission or a medical bill—would push us into financial ruin.

It feels incredibly unfair. We did everything we were "supposed" to do. We went to college, got higher education, found decent jobs, and we do not spend money on luxury things. Yet, we are effectively being penalized for trying to better our lives. I am watching my friends who did not go to college buy houses and plan families, while we are trapped paying a massive second rent to the government every single month.

I feel like my student loans are acting as a mandatory form of birth control. We are staring down our mid thirties, the clock is ticking, and I am genuinely terrified that by the time we can actually afford a child, it will be too late.

Tl;dr? I didn't ask for forgiveness. I just wanted lower monthly payments to live comfortably. I'm not asking to thrive, apparently that's too much. But I don't want to be stuck just barely surviving.

I wasn't in the court room. None of us were. And I promise none of the people there actually realized what a gift the SAVE plan was - and should be. I wasn't asking for forgiveness. I knew what I signed up for when I listened to the older generations tell me that I needed a degree to be successful in life. That I needed to go to school to be better than they were when they were my age.

What I did ask for was an affordable monthly payment. Take your $10/month. I don't care if it takes me the rest of my life to pay off. $10/month was doable.

But now? Supposedly my payments should be $270/month if I go on the current Standard Plan on the FAFSA website. Almost half of what the IBR says it's going to be. But I can't trust that calculation until we can actually see what 7/1 will bring. I'm lucky, right now, $270 is doable. But that isn't that case for everyone. Hell, it wasn't the case for me until I jumped ship from an underpaying job a few months ago. The increase wasn't tens of thousands. It was $2k. Two thousand dollars. But my insurance is much cheaper, so it netted to a higher increase.

But that $270 is still an additional $260 more than I was paying before. $260 more that could go towards other debt I accrued to survive when times were hard. A personal loan and credit cards. I'm lucky, my choice isn't between a student loan payment and necessities. But that's the money I need to crawl out of the pit I had to dig to not drown.

Everyone is congratulating me and my husband for buying our first house. But what they don't know is that it was out of necessity. The apartment complex I've lived in for almost a decade has been bought out and the rent hikes they're threatening are more than a house payment. We could have moved to a new one in a shadier part of town but, in a perfect world, we hope to have a kid in the next few years. The house we bought isn't lavish but it's in a good school district. No where near the best but at least it's far from being the worst. And the price was a steal. We didn't have a down-payment. Not a dime to put down anywhere. But we have his VA loan. And this house? We needed each other to get it. His income is too low but his credit is great. Me? My income is better but my credit is lower. Why? My outstanding $105k debt. They say student loans aren't a roadblock but the lender made it clear that the $80k balance was not in my favor. But we have a house, it needs some work, but it's ours. And it's set up in a school district for someone that might end up being a fleeting dream. I refuse to bring a child into a world where they will need. We grew up that way and vowed that our kids would only ever want. They wouldn't need to worry about if there was food on the table. It would be there. But it might not be what they wanted that night.

They wonder why millennials aren't having children. We can't afford them. It's not because we wanted some fancy coffee. It's because we've got debts that are coming due and why should we add another person on to a potentially sinking ship. And, my largest debt? Student loans. I'll pay them off but it comes at the cost of delaying that new generation. For a lot of people I'm close to, it's the same. Even those that make $100k+ are hesitating because their student loans are coming due. Payments that are tripling what they were before.

When this transition begins on 7/1, I'll be getting my masters degree. Not because I "want" to. But because that's the only way to defer the payments without screwing over my future completely. I'm lucky, my new job gives us a stipend. And one class is all I need to hold off that expense. I'll never have to take out loans thanks to my job. But that's an extremely unique situation. Most companies will reimburse you X amount, but that still means paying the cost upfront. A broken system in my opinion. But, in the end, at least there's some help. And help is something we could use. I'm going to try and take that additional $270 and put it in savings. But, if that doesn't happen because present day me needs it to stay afloat. It is what it is.

Edit: for those insulted by how low my payments were...it matched my income. I was making next to nothing when payments first came due. $10 was more than an hours worth of work for me then. Obviously I know that's not sustainable...you're missing my point. People who benefited from SAVE budgeted their lives around it. Now that's gone and we have to figure it out. They gave us a time limit but trying to switch to a higher paying job right now to make up for the difference isn't feasible. If you can, that's amazing. But that's the minority of people, not the majority.

I'm just a little confused. I was in save and they are kicking us off but it seems they are kicking us off before RAP starts?

When my then girlfriend (now wife) told me 2 months into dating that she had 150k of student loan debt, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I struggled with the idea of taking on that debt if we got married. I even called the Dave Ramsey show and got some advice for how to look at it. The response in the comment section was hilarious. The men all told me to run, the women said I was shallow.

But we stayed together and talked about what our future looked like, and I slowly realized that even though paying off this student debt would set us well behind where I wanted to be once I got married and started a family, there were many aspects of the woman I loved that made her a perfect life partner for me, despite this one part that I was letting overshadow everything else.

So we got married in the fall and put every penny we could towards the loans. I took all my savings, sold all my toys (motorcycles and a project truck), took all our wedding gift money, slashed our budget, and slowed our retirement savings.

What started as 150k when we first met almost exactly 2 years ago just went to 0 today. It feels so good to stop paying mohela every month, but it's also sobering to realize that we're out of debt, but we still have nothing. But at least now we get to build!

Details for those that are interested: before taxes she makes 72k, I make 90k. Medium COL. Renting, no mortgage. Her degree was a 6 year doctorate program, my degree was a 4yr engineering degree where I ended with ~15k in debt before I paid it off quickly after graduating. Her loans were all federal with a 6.2% interest rate. No forbearance or aid programs.

I just got an email that I need to pick a plan soon and I cannot afford any of the plans. I make about $140,000 a year but with the cost of living where I am at, inflation, helping family members, gas, and 30,000 in credit card debt I am living paycheck to paycheck. I’m panicking and I don’t know what to do I cannot afford the payments or if they garnish my wages. I’m legitimately on the brink of SH.

Screw the Trump admin and Republicans. Send this letter if they threaten default and collections.

U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid
P.O. Box 1854
Monticello, KY 42633
Subject: Request for Cancellation of Approved Student Loan Debt Relief

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing regarding my previously approved application for the one-time federal student loan debt relief program announced by the Biden Administration in August 2022. I received official notification from the Department of Education stating that my application had been reviewed and approved, and that I was determined eligible for relief under the program.

Based on the original intent and promises of this program, I respectfully insist that my approved student loan balance be cancelled as intended. I relied upon the Department’s approval notice and the understanding that qualifying borrowers such as myself would receive relief under the program.

While I understand litigation temporarily prevented implementation, my approval was already established by the Department of Education. I believe it is both fair and appropriate for the Department to honor the commitment made to borrowers whose applications were accepted and approved.

Therefore, I kindly request that:

- My approved student loan debt relief be recognized and maintained;
- Collection efforts or any adverse actions related to these loans be suspended until this matter is resolved; and
- The Department continue to explore all available avenues to discharge the approved debt as initially intended.

I appreciate your attention to this matter and ask that this correspondence be included in my borrower file. Please provide written confirmation that my request has been received.

I made the final payment on my private student loans last Friday afternoon. It was exactly $1,142.03. I stared at the screen for maybe ten minutes waiting for the confirmation email, and when it finally hit my inbox, I didn't celebrate. I didn't go out for a drink. I just went back to my desk and kept working.

Everyone in my life who knew about my debt situation keeps telling me I should be ecstatic. They talk about how a massive weight must be lifted off my shoulders and how I am finally free. But honestly, I just feel empty and incredibly angry. I graduated in 2019 with a degree in data analysis and spent the last seven years living like a complete monk to pull this off. I took the highest paying corporate gig I could find even though the management team is toxic as hell and the hours frequently push past sixty a week.

To throw every extra dollar at the principal, I lived in a damp basement apartment with two random guys from Craigslist who left dirty dishes in the sink for weeks. My diet consisted entirely of cheap meal preps, frozen chicken breasts, and generic coffee. I skipped every single bachelor party, every group trip to the coast, and every holiday dinner that required a plane ticket. My friends stopped inviting me out years ago because my answer was always the same. Sorry man, not in the budget.

I sacrificed my entire twenties for this balance sheet. I sacrificed my mental health, my hobbies, and any semblance of a social life. Now that the number on the screen says zero, I realize I cannot buy those years back. The money is just gone, swallowed up by a predatory interest rate that kept me awake at 3 AM for a decade. I looked at my bank account this morning and realized that while my net worth is technically no longer negative, I have absolutely no memories or experiences from the last seven years to show for it. I am just a shell of a person who is really good at making spreadsheets.

I am writing this here because I know people in the real world will think I am being ungrateful or dramatic. They think paying off debt is the finish line of a movie where the main character smiles and the credits roll. It is not. It just feels like I paid a massive ransom to get my life back, except the kidnappers already spent the best parts of it. I have a whole weekend ahead of me and absolutely no idea what to do with myself because my brain has been hardwired to just work, sleep, and restrict spending for so long.

If anyone else felt this weird post debt depression, let me know how you dealt with it. Right now I just want to stare at the wall.

Got the email today: Second Notice: The SAVE Plan Has Ended, But You Have Options

I did the calculations and this will take my payment from $300/mo -> $650/mo.

I live in California and rent here is outrageous, taking a bit over half my income.

So my options are to either stop eating or not pay my rent in full....surely I'm not the only one in this situation. What are people doing to combat this?

Got the below email. Assume this is NOT the deadline email, and is just a notice? Trying to hold off as long as I can as my private loans are eating away at my income.

"Our records show that you're enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. As a reminder, a court order ended the SAVE Plan. You must select a new repayment plan, or your student loan servicer will move you into a different repayment plan.

Explore Repayment Plans

In the coming months, your loan servicer will contact you about your specific deadline to choose a different repayment plan. Once you hear from your loan servicer, you'll have 90 days to choose another repayment plan. This gives you time to select the plan that works best for you.

Our newest repayment plans—the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) and Tiered Standard Plan—will be available starting on July 1, 2026. Visit StudentAid.gov/bigupdates to learn more about these new repayment plans and other changes to the federal student aid programs."

Where is the best place to get a student loan? A private nursing school in California.

My friend was denied for all financial help, tried to get a loan through a credit union but was denied due to credit.

She is struggling to find a cosigner.

What are other options to get loans? Was trying to avoid Sallie mae.

Left graduate school in 2017 with around $177k in student loan debt. Following graduation I consolidated the various loans into one PAYE/REPAYE with this feeling like a wildly impossible amount of money to ever repay. I proceeded to attempt the approach of keeping my AGI as low as possible, largely by investing in real estate and starting businesses, with the plan to grow them and pay the minimum for 20 years and then enter a repayment plan with the IRS following forgiveness. Not ideal, but seemed like the best plan at the time.

Haven't paid loans since Covid forebearance and switched into SAVE when it became available so still haven't been paying. My balance is around $220,000.

My base salaries between the companies total to around $138,000 (plus max 401(k) contribution) with my AGI floating around +/-$100,000. However, last year and this year are looking like my total comp could be closer to $230k-$300k. But then next year might drop way back down. Also, maintaining this is a miserable existence of working 260+ hours/month and I now have a little baby I need and want to take care of. My wife (PSLF eligible) and I have a house and HELOC with about another $125k available.

Should I:

1. Enter RAP, continue to try to minimize AGI (renovations to rental unit, invest in other businesses and real estate partnerships), and pay the minimum (likely less than interest) for the term to run out the clock (essentially continue same plan but now with RAP?

2. Make a huge draw on line of credit (i.e. $100,000) to pay down principle? Idea being that the payments on this can then be deducted... further driving down AGI (or maybe buy a nicer house with similar result)?

3. Go back to PAYE short term? Although hot sure this does much.

4. Something else?

I don't start many reddit posts so apologies if this is very long winded. Thank you in advance for any advice.

Wondering if anyone can help me out with some advice.

I am enrolled for the current Spring semester at my local CC (for only 4 units; I am aware this is below half time) while also completing a NONcredit pharmacy technician course at the same school, so on paper this would translate to the DOE as me only being enrolled in 4 CREDITED units. I am also enrolled in the upcoming Summer semester for a 5 unit course.

I know DOE requires half time to be 6 units. Today I enrolled in the upcoming Fall semester with a total of 9 units.

I received an email this morning from EdFinancial informing me of my student loan payment being due June 16.

Basically, does anyone have any insight on how long it takes for our school to send over our enrollment to the DOE for half time student loan deferment? Should I wait a couple business days before submitting a deferment form?

I needed to post about this. Long time lurker first time poster here in this sub.

I checked my balance and it was discharged down to almost nothing left. I didn’t know the borrower defense would take care of that much of my debt.

I could cry right now happy tears. It’s such a relief. I hate the way it came about but grateful it did.

I received an email from Studentaid.gov stating "Action Required for Your Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan" and that I need to "Log In to StudentAid.gov to Manually Recertify Your IDR Plan" since my automatic recertification failed. I was urged to recertify as soon as possible.

My recertification date is 9/15/2026 per my dashboard.

Do I need to recertify now? If not now, when should I? If I do recertify now, will it automatically immediately update my payments (I expect them to increase). Does anyone have any advise?

I was expected to be notified by my servicer closer to the 9/15 recert date. I plan on calling EdFinancial tomorrow.

Hi! I am seven payments away from PSLF and with a buyback request awaiting review. I am here in this forum because before I worked for more than a decade for a non-profit, I was in the private sector and making loan payments. In November 2025, I was notified that I was being moved from SAVE to IDR and began making payments in December. I was thrilled to be making payments again and progress towards forgiveness. In February 2026, I was notified by Department of Education that I was eligible for a discharge under IDR and that I had like 45 minutes to opt out (it was two weeks but the demand for timeliness from them was comical to me in the moment). I tried to opt out because I knew with the expiration of the American Rescue Plan provisions that IDR discharge in 2026 was subject to federal taxes. This resulted in me spending more hours than I cared to count with Mohela and them telling me they didn't know what I was talking about, that they couldn't opt me out, that they could opt me out, that they had opted me out, that they were not able to opt me out and then for two weeks my loans were discharged and they've now been reinstated.

Things got funny when I received the message from Mohela that they were discharged and it was effective November 2025. Has anyone found anything that clarifies what happens when these discharges span two calendar years from a tax status? I have seen the Taxpayer Advocate (https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/news/tax-tips/what-to-know-about-student-loan-forgiveness-and-your-taxes/2026/03/) information that states if you are notified in 2025 that the loan was eligible and it was not processed until 2026, you may not have tax liability. This sound promising but in my situation, I was not notified until 2026 and the effective date of discharge was in 2025. My debt is six figures so the tax implications are real. If I was not breaths away from PSLF, I would accept the opportunity and figure it out, but I'm a handful of payments away from tax-free forgiveness.

This forum and the PSLF forum have been so helpful while I have tried to navigate this, so many thanks to everyone who has shared. If anyone has discovered anything that clarifies this liability question I would be so grateful. I don't trust Mohela's canned response (they've been wrong about so much), I have a feedback request pending with FSA, I have questions into my Congressman, and I've requested help from my local Taxpayer Advocacy office without update. My research hasn't yielded a clear answer, but I am hoping someone on here might have had a chance to dig deeper or has a better understanding of the tax end of all this. Thanks for reading.

Received an email about the SAVE plan closing and they mentioned tiered plan?? Anyone have any idea how it works? I tried reading it on the websites but I still have no idea if that would be the best route..

So happy to be able to say that after 4 years I have completely paid off just about 120k in student loan debt. I was very fortunate to have been in the interest pause which helped tremendously as well as finding a job that offered assistance with student loans. If you are able to find an employer that offers some sort of student loan assistance, it is absolutely worth it. I am hoping for the best for the future of student loans especially with current uncertainty. Aside from the debt being gone I am MOST excited about never ever having to interact with freakin MOHELA again.

ok so i got into GSA for interior design starting september and im really excited but also really stressed about the money side of things and could use some advice from people who have been through this.
so basically im a first gen college student, finished my associates with a 3.8 gpa and got into one of the best art schools in the world which is still kind of surreal to me. the tuition is £24,800 a year and im trying to piece together how to cover it.
heres what i have so far. my FAFSA is submitted and im eligible for federal direct loans which covers some of it but not all. pell grant doesnt apply bc GSA is a foreign school which i didnt know until recently. ive been denied by sallie mae and a few other private lenders because i dont have a cosigner and the school is abroad. my mom is willing to cosign but her credits not great. student finance england doesnt apply to me either.
im planning to work the 20 hours a week allowed on a student visa and sell most of my stuff before i go. just trying to figure out if anyone has been in a similar situation or knows of any lenders or funding options i might be missing.
any advice would be really appreciated, even just knowing someone else has gotten through something like this would help honestly

Hi all.

27m, married.

I started with about 98k in student loans 7 years ago. In 2023 I consolidated a mix of gov’t and private loans which totaled to $66K at 7.9% interest over 240 payments. A big regret but at the time I couldn’t afford the monthly. I’m in a better situation financially now, and just focused in the last two years to get this paid off. The debt currently sits at $33K, down $20k in principal from this time last year. I’m proud of the progress as if I just paid monthly from the start of 2023 the principal would be $62K. The monthly originally was $550 a month but I have been putting close to $1500 a month toward it, trying to get it paid off before children come into the situation, and just to get the burden off my shoulders.

I currently have an 3-5month emergency fund of $15k in a MMF that me and my wife share (about 3.4% interest). I also have a personal brokerage of about $14k just from recurring investment transfers. I recently stopped the weekly transfers (about $125 per week into various ETF’/ mutual funds) and decide to put that amount each week toward my loan instead.

I’m wondering if it would be best to liquidate my personal brokerage and put it against my loan which would take a huge chunk out of it. But I’m worried about the potential growth that it would have in the future if I just let it sit there. Given the risk of the market I realize paying off the loan would be a “guaranteed return” of the 7.9%, but just curious of your thoughts.

I want to get this debt paid off as soon as possible, but also wonder if I should just keep chipping away at it in hopes my brokerage will continue to grow over the next few years in the market.

Appreciate your thoughts/opinion :)

I'm expecting to graduate May 2027 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering with no current plans of grad studies. The price to attend next year is looking at $12k total. I have 6k right now(checkings, savings, investments) and expecting to net $11k over the summer through work. My parents and I split costs about 40/60(me). All 3 years have been paid out of pocket, no debt. My parents are in their 60s working labor though and only getting older, so I feel increasingly more guilt as they pay and a sense to pay them back.

With that, I was thinking of the $5500 subsidized loans to take on the full year's cost. My expenses look around $500/month as I live at home. I was thinking of a potential graduation trip to europe with friends that may cost 2-3k.

My whole reasoning for taking the loan is to have more cash to fall back on after full year's cost + a grad trip, with loan repayment relying on me getting a full time job. Thoughts?

Edit: Haha I ended up declining the federal loans after seeing the responses. I forgot to mention that I work part-time during school too so it'll work out