Are you struggling with student debt that is more than 150% of your income, feeling hopeless? #studentdebt #debtrelief #financialstruggle
Feeling overwhelmed by student debt?
Here are some tips to help you navigate through this difficult situation:
– Are you eligible for income-driven repayment plans?
– Have you looked into student loan forgiveness programs?
– Could refinancing your loans at a lower interest rate be a viable option?
– Have you considered seeking financial counseling for personalized guidance?
Don’t lose hope – there are solutions out there to help you manage your student debt and get back on track towards financial stability. #financialfreedom #studentloansolutions #debtfreejourney
>Student debt is 150%+ of income, feeling hopeless
Then you’re going to feel absolutely despondent when you buy a house and your debt is 300-500%+ of income. /sarcastic perspective
Your rates aren’t great but this isn’t high-interest credit card debt, it’s student loans that are *intended* to be repaid over many years.
You have $5k monthly income and, what, a few hundred in expenses? This is not an insurmountable challenge. Far from it.
How much have you paid off in the past two years?
What’s is your total payment to the loans? How much extra are you throwing at them every month?
Do you live in a lower COL location? Your 2 person, no kids, college graduate incomes seem fairly low.
Its easier said than done, but focus on making more money prior to buying a house or having kids.
This feels really hard. There are some good things.
Get the federal loans on the [SAVE plan](https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/save-plan). Interest not paid won’t capitalize, and there is a path to forgiveness. With an income of $90k and a family size of 2, your payment right now would be $380 and starting on July 1 would go to $190.
Look into “double consolidation” for the parent plus loan to make it eligible for the SAVE plan. There’s a real time limit for that loophole though, so look now. The thing is, that is on your Dad’s income and credit. Your dad agreed to that loan. Did you have an agreement to pay it?
In any case, that should free up some additional money to throw at the higher interest private loans.
I would set some smaller achievable goals. You do not have to wait for these loans to be paid off to live life. But, if you can commit to one more year of living with family, you probably have around $39k in a year to pay towards the loans. So pay off most of the 9% loan in a year.
I would spend some time looking at how much you’ve already paid off. If you’ve been doing this for 3 years you must have made huge progress already!
Most people carry some amount of debt. You don’t need to be debt free to move into an apartment or start a family. It took me fifteen years to pay back my student loans, and during that time I got married and bought a house.
As long as you’re not carrying consumer debt – credit card, personal loans – you’re probably fine.
As long as you’re both in careers, your skills will grow, you’ll chase promotions to better roles, you’ll get raises. Payments that now might be 20% of your income will drop to 15, then maybe 10.
That said, I would expect you to be able to find better paying jobs. My perspective is skewed because I live in Seattle, but minimum wage out here is 20 or 25 per hour. That’s 50k/yr without overtime.
I bet you can pay off the $49k in 3 years.
In any case, this is a cautionary tale for all those people in this sub who like to give *everyone under every circumstance* advice to invest in their education. While often great advice, there are exceptions and caveats.
Job hop and take every opportunity for more income, and career advancement. Don’t be tied to your “career” based on degree, pivot wherever the money is, high quality sales/tech sales support or other opportunities with high income and low barrier of entry and possibly hybrid or fully remote and then car expenses fall ie repairs/maintenance.
My wife and I struggled with high school debt for a few years but the real movement was made with salary increases, you can’t pinch your Pennie’s to make up dollars no matter how frugal. This may take time like 1.5 years to find a new good job with good pay, but have faith, stay the course, and save.
Additionally we increased the length of school loans for my wife’s to reduce monthly debt on paper from 400 to 175 for example and then we could pay minimums when tight or pay more if funds avaikable.
You need an income boost. Taking on $150 thousand of debt to only make $90 thousand between the two of you is tough. Not insurmountable but this is likely a 3+ year process with minimal expenses. You can’t save your way out of this, you need a bigger income to throw at the debt if you want to make a bigger dent in it.
Just saying. Not trying to be a d***. But, it just blows my mind the amount of times I’ve heard this same situation. People need to be educated on what degrees are worth going to college for or not before going committing to massive amounts of debt.
LOL I have 270K student debt at 7-8% interest and a 200K mortgage at 2.7%
I also have about six months of emergency savings along with a sinking house repair fund and will contribute the max to 401K this year.
I’ve been doing this alone for the last
ten years since graduation. Last year was the first year I made above 90K.
I never had the option of rent free living with family, and I’ve never shared expenses with an SO.
It can be done. You’ll be fine.
Can either of you find a job in local/federal government? This would cut down on health insurance costs, likely; and provide fairly stable employment, either making the same that you make or possibly more. Even if it’s like, office management. If there’s a pension, all the better.
And often getting employment in this world can help you get rid of your loans altogether.
Your school not being a big deal does not by any means at all have to keep you out of those careers, even if the original jobs didn’t work out, you can keep applying and make ~yourself~ more marketable rather than your Alma Matter. Anyway, my husband and I have around the same amount of combined debt and we bought a house. We grind to pay off debt just like you, and sure it may not be paid off as soon as it would be if we lived rent free, but we’re making good progress! I know it feels crushing at times but please don’t wait to start your life bc you want to be entirely debt free. You’ll be alright ☀️
I’d put the federal loans on SAVE and just forget about it for now and pay the minimum. I’d focus on her private loans first. The parent plus if that’s something you agreed to pay back with your parents then I’d pay that next.
You get almost 5.5k a month in hand. You do not have to pay rent or for your cars. The worst loan you have is at 9%.
What exactly is your idea of a student loan, where is your money going and why are you not factoring in increases in income?
What’s the breakdown on the individual loans? Which ones are you paying extra on? Are there a couple smaller ones you can temporarily prioritise to free up some income?
You don’t have rent so you could basically pay 60k+ this year if nothing changes. That’s almost half of what you owe.
You need to get better paying jobs. I don’t know what kind of jobs one gets with a forensics degree (working for the police)? Experimental design is what, engineering or graphic art?
$150k in debt for that is a lot. Eventually you should be able to find jobs that pay more than $45k in today’s inflated economy.
That’s the solution, IMO.
What the hell is experiential design?! You design experiences?
You do it the same way every one else did and you take years to pay off the debts? I’m not getting what the problem is.
Most people don’t have the luxury of living rent free with their parents or having paid off cars. You’re in a better spot than most.
As for jobs, every one starts there. I was paid pennies out of college. Once I got 5+ years of experience companies were willing to pay more. Just how it is.
Not sure why you think you’re special in either of these cases. You’re just dealing with the same shit every one else has.
My wife and I had all in $225k in debt—that’s 150k in student loans, then the rest being 2 cars and a heating system. We began paying that making 86k combined and we’re now around $133k.
We used the Ramsey debt snowball method with slight tweaks here and there. We were able to make good dents in the debt making lower incomes, but some of the other commenters are correct that bumping up that income helps.
Here is the thing though: we paid it off. You can pay it off. Here is the next thing: it feels really good to pay it off. If you’re willing to push yourself for a few years, you’ll a) pay off that debt, and b) know that you are capable of amazing things. It puts what is hard into perspective.
Don’t despair: while, yes, it is real money and real sacrifice of time, you’re also going to really learn things about yourself. Our marriage is much stronger than it was when we were just messing around with all that debt. I knew I was stressed with the debt, but I didn’t realize how much until it was done.
Don’t give up. Look into bumping up that income. But until that comes up, just throw anything extra you can at it. Give yourself lots of little wins. You can do it.
Someone get a serving job on the side. Quick, easy money you can throw at the loans.
Okay so you have $150k at for ease of math lets day average 7.5%. That is $11,250 in interest a year. You make $90k combined which means you dont pay that much in tax…maybe 18% in total between FICA and federal so thats another $16,200. That leaves $62,550 after interest and taxes.
Your only expenses are food and groceries and insurancd which is like $12k/yr maybe? So that leaves $50k to put into the loan.
So even with no raises you clear all debt in 3 years.
What am I missing?
Both of you need second jobs. Do not try and job hop in this market. I’m not convinced you don’t have a spending problem considering you pay nothing in rent.
You should get expert help with your resume and go into something more lucrative. Minimum wage in Maryland is $15. Are you making $20? I’m sorry to say, my son made that much in high school working for a city vendor. You’re paying so much for healthcare, so one of you needs to get a job with affordable healthcare asap.
Can you do a certificate in UX? Focus on the skills you have for design software, excel, etc. check out federal jobs immediately.
The debt is bad but your income is worse.
Did you take advantage of the almost 3 years of interest free period for your federal loans? You could have knocked out $61,000 of your debt. If you didn’t take advantage of that period then what did you do with your money? The interest free period coincided with you living with your family.
That kind of debt sucks. I used to have more student loan debt than you and a lower salary. I ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Keep getting pay raises, and you’ll be surprised at how quick the debt goes away. Attack high interest loans first. You got this!
Work 2 jobs, if one job is not enough!! Walk dogs, babysitting, bartending etc…
You’re fine you’re just young. Give it a few years and stick to the plan that you have now. Just stay the course. It will get paid off. And you’re income will grow with time.
>I’ve been at my mental end for so many months, my mental health will absolutely not be improved by therapy because our situation remains the same.
Try less hard.
At 90k a year you can afford a date night twice a month.
At 90k a year you can afford to spend a little bit of money on fun. You can afford an inexpensive vacation once or twice a year.
You cannot slog through 150k of debt while absolutely torturing yourself and doing nothing but hiding in your mom’s basement watching hulu – it’s simply not realistic. As you point out, you can’t therapy through having a shitty life. The answer is having a less shitty life, and spending $3k of your $90k income per year on things that make your life suck less is not going to meaningfully fuck up your long term plan.
The federal loans should be under income-based repayment plans, if they’re not already. In your shoes, I would be very open to relocating for work in your chosen field, if it will give you a leg up income-wise.
You guys accumulated a lot of debt for niche/lower paying degrees. I’m not trying to rub your face in it but reality is it’s prob not the college you chose as much as the degrees you both chose. Yours may lend well into AI growth, have you considered that area to get into while it’s hot? Hers may lend well to federal jobs that may help her with loan forgiveness. All in all, I think you guys chose a path that got you about exactly where you should have expected at 90k combined. I think if you both get creative there are paths to get that 90 to 120 in the near future while also possibly finding ways to get the debt eased. With such low pay it’s worth considering that you both might have better luck outside of your degrees in a different job. Go get creative, you’re not dead in the water.
School name means very little. Either you didn’t get a job because of interview skills or unfortunately your fields are very niche.
You’re not completely screwed. Your interest rates are manageable.
Try looking harder for jobs in your field. Continue to do so until you get one, as long as it takes.
Just keep paying it off and looking for better work, not much else to it, I was at 200% when I started, you guys can do it.
I think you need to fully print out or pull up ALL of your credit card statements and bank activity. Categorize everything and see monthly the full breakdown, without estimating, you need real numbers. Frugal Fit Mom Podcast and Caleb Hammer on youtube both have the same approach I’ll suggest, cut things back as much as you can and *plan* how to attack the debt. Usually things like eating out, groceries, subscriptions, shopping, can all be cut back. People often say they don’t buy expensive grocries but can I ask what you spend?
And it will suck but you need to be willing to live basic for a while to improve your future.
You need an income boost but also if you’re living rent free and don’t have car payments and are frugal you should be able to aggressively put a dent in those loans even with current income, just be patient and try not to feel overwhelmed