What are /r/StudentLoans' favorite Products & Services?

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150% of the federal poverty line. Federal Poverty Level can be found at https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/

Multiple the poverty income amount for your household size by 1.5

I would hold off on the engagement until she's paid off half her debt herself (without incurring more debt,) establishing that she's financially responsible and serious about being debt free. This is an amazing opportunity to establish financial goals before marriage. You can marry a debt free person that might want an expensive wedding, expensive morgage, fancy leased cars, credit card debt, and other frivolous things.

 

I wouldn't be concerned about her 60,000 in school loans. Her ability to forgo lifestyle to pay it off and her attitude towards never going into debt again for any reason (besides a reasonable mortgage with a sizable down payment) will be more telling.

 

Source: I make 35,000 and work 2 jobs because I'm 100,000 student debt and I take it very seriously. I know it's dangerous, I'm in a pit of fire called debt, and my entire being is dedicated to be debt free. That's what it takes to win.

 

TIP: Dave Ramsey is one of the biggest anti-debt financial personalities right now. He has a 3-hour free podcast DAILY. His book is called "Total Money Makeover" and you can get it super cheap on ebay and if you wear an eyepatch you can find the audiobook online- it's like listening to a motivational speaker, I highly recommend. He also offer's his Financial Peace University class USA-wide (usually held at churches, don't have to be religious to go. People take their spouses and enroll together. You can also take it online.) He also tours the US doing anti-debt seminars/motivational speaking. It's fairly cheap if you're able to bring your GF if he's in town. He does an unprecedented job of outlining exactly why you want to sacrifice and pay off debt now (5 years or less) to set you up for the rest of your life and achieve your goals. (Retirement, vacations, home ownership.)

http://www.daveramsey.com/show/home/?snid=show

I say gear up, follow all of the applicable subreddits, network with and assist professional photographers in your area, and build a portfolio. You don't need a formal education to be a photog. I know quite a few professional photographers that make a living doing what they do -- none of them have a degree in photography. Not one. Don't waste your money or your time. As for your comment about them teaching you the business side of things, I'd say do some research -- I bet somewhere within that hour's drive you'll find free resources to help you with a business plan. If you want to PM me your city, I'll do some research for you.

There are so many resources online now for creatives. Maybe set yourself up a couple hours a day where the family can't bother you, and you hole up in a room in your new house and "go to school".

I don't want to see anyone else in my boat -- I went to a for-profit college for my passion (filmmaking). It was completely unnecessary. I work full time in my industry (and have for 12 years now), and every job I've ever gotten has been through networking. I've been paying on my student loans for over 10 years, and I have a good 15+ years left unless some magical financial fairy drops a winning lottery ticket on my lap. Don't do that to yourself!!

Good luck with your decision!!

My partner and I are aiming for 300k paid off in 6 years. It’ll be tough. We are using a combo of YNAB and Undebt.it for budgeting and snowballing our payments to knock them out.

YNAB

Undebt.it

best wishes on your journey.

> Can someone go just for the education? Even if they don't plan to have a job. 70% of people do not get jobs in their related degree. I just want to be able to take every class in college I find interesting. Every single one. Why is that so frowned upon?

There is certainly value to education for education's sake. But you can take college classes in a bunch of different subjects you're interested in for free through sites like Coursera. I really think this would be more up your alley than a traditional college program.

If your profession doesn't specifically require a college degree, it's not worth borrowing tens of thousands of dollars just to take a bunch of random classes with no specific plans for using them. It's a bad investment. Especially when there are so many free alternatives.

I know this is a generic answer but I would read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and he will explain the snowball method in detail. I have 5 student loans (2 are paid in full now thanks to the snowball method) and I'm working on my other 3. I use the 'extra' money from my 2 loans that are paid off towards the payment on loan #3. Once I have that one paid off I'll use that money on #4 and so on.

Yeah, you'll be fine. I graduated with like $105k in student loans and I currently make $47k/year, and I make my payments just fine every month. Edit: I'm married and my wife makes $30k, which helps of course, but I didn't include her student loans in my total, so yeah we have more income than a single person, but we have more debt and bills than a single person. It's doable; you just have to make it work.

I don't know how people feel about Dave Ramsey around here, but I read his book The Total Money Makeover and we've been snowballing my student loans the past few months. We've been making an additional ~$500 payment on my student loans on top of the normal payment (and we don't do without anything like he kind of says you need to do in the book). Paying back student loans isn't fun at all, but it's possible, especially with you making $70k.

You have a 6 month grace period. Do not defer during this period. If you do, any subsidized loans you have will start accumulating interest immediately. I would try and find a job within your grace period and start paying off your loans.

See if you qualify for special direct consolidation (www.studentloans.gov) (loans that can be specially direct consolidated will have a .25% reduction in interest)

Sign up for automatic payments with your servicer(s). This will give you a .25% reduction in interest

Above your automatic draft, if you have the money, put any extra money towards your high interest loans' PRINCIPAL.

Above all else, do some googling and research, research, research. I reccommend Get a Financial Life. This book has changed my life and the way I think about everything from student loans to 401ks.

Hope this helps.

Stafford loans is an older program, Direct loans is the newer program. The original law setting up federally guaranteed loans was the Higher Education Act of 1965, and the loans were called FFELP loans. Then in 1988 the loans were renamed in honor of Sen. Robert Stafford, who was a higher education advocate (they remained FFELP loans, just with a new name). Then in 2010, Congress re-did the student loan programs, stopped issuing new FFELP/Stafford loans, and started issuing new Direct Loans.

It’s quite possible then for someone to still have Stafford loans issued in 2010 (or earlier) so they’re still listed separately on the regs.

https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/student-debt/federal-stafford-loans/

You need to visit r/personalfinance and make a budget. I recommend youneedabudget.com as a budgeting software program and Dave Ramsey as a method. You have tons of room to cut. $1,000 of food every month, a $250 housekeeper, and $250 horse boarding?!? Those are all super easy to cut way down.

Edit: r/Kohkan3 knows what's up

You are completely mischaracterizing the Wall Street Bailout. It was 29T..

I was giving examples of things we've spent money on, with amounts, largely for comparison. We spent X on Y, and almost no one said "how are we going to pay for that, we can't possibly pay for that". We could easily pay for all of the things Stein has proposed.

I was starting to think you might work for a certain social media organisation with three letters, your promotion of war crimes (which would have been logistically infeasible) shows me that you don't.

Actual climate change models have been either accurate, or understated. Perhaps you got the idea of NYC being underwater from science fiction? Or maybe you follow the Gary Johnson school of climate change that "the sun is going to consume the earth in billions of years so we should do nothing."

If we can assume votes are always counted fairly, then don't need to estimate how many people agree with Stein's platform. It is nearly identical as Sanders' platform, almost half of Democrats voted for him.

NO!

It's really easy to believe the hype and be overly optimistic about your earning potential when entering the job market.

I just looked on glassdoor.com and Sony is offering a position for a senior game designer at $60k -$94k. Of course, you won't be a Sr. game designer when you graduate...If you graduate (There are a lot of folks who don't, you must keep that in mind when calculating risk)

So at a VERY optimistic salary of $60k...seriously, you won't be making that at your first job. Let's pop those numbers in to the calculator at

https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/repaymentEstimator.action#

$140k at say....a generous 3% (I think the current rate is closer to 4% but w/e)

Your Standard payment will be ~$1350 every month FOR TEN YEARS.

Conveniently, Motley Fool has a nice little breakdown of the taxes on a $60k salary:

https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/how-to-calculate-my-monthly-take-home-salary.aspx

So roughly you would be bringing home $3590/month. Less your $1350 that must be paid you will have $2250 every month for fun!...Like rent, which as a video game designer means you will probably be living in awesome places like San Diego or Orange Co. where rents are...high. Don't even think about less than $1k/month ... unless you have several roommates.

Aaaaaand you want a car right? Average car payment is now is $479/month if you're going to be borrowing money instead of saving up. And then there are utilities, gas for your car, clothing, food...and these are calculations on a salary that you really cannot count on straight out of school.

Borrowing that much money is way too much burden for any reasonable salary you can expect coming out of school.

Please look for other ways to pay for school --work a job while you study, maybe alternate one semester of study with one semester of work, apply for a thousand scholarships and get a few.

I have some crushing student loan debt too. I found this AMA to give me a little light - linked. There is still a way to live a decent life. As for the credit try reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover - there’s a whole thing about making it back living on cash, the grind becoming less daunting with small wins that’ll become habit, and establishing a relationship with a credit union. Student Loan Expert AMA

Get a higher paying job ASAP. Learn a new skill, get a new certification, start a side hustle.

Its going to be a hard road if you continue to make $30k a year and have $100k in debt.

Having $10k in cash is a bad idea. Make sure you have an emergency fund then put the rest towards your highest interest debt first.

Look up the "Debt Reduction Calculator" and plug in your debt numbers and see how long it will take to pay off your debt. Have a goal to pay X amount per month. Read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and get inspired to make a change!

I've recently (a couple weeks ago) started reading the Total Money Makeover. We've paid off one debt! But not having enough to make the minimums on the student loans makes it hard to include them in the snowball. It also makes it hard to save emergency fund he recommends.

Yes, it is very difficult to get a job with the “top companies” that pay as well as you mentioned. These companies are receiving hundreds if not thousands of applications for each opening, and most of these applicants have years of experience and are extremely well qualified. However, there are a lot of companies that don’t have the same prestige and don’t pay quite as well, and it is easier to get a job there (although still somewhat competitive).

If you have your heart set on Silicon Valley, I’m sure you’d be able to find a job here. It would likely not be at a FAANG company right away, although you could get experience elsewhere first and then apply again once you have more experience. My wife has worked at Amazon for years now, and she has told me they are hiring PhD’s for jobs they used to hire fresh college grads to do just because they get so many qualified applicants.

If you don’t have your heart set on Silicon Valley, there are a TON of good jobs elsewhere, especially since more tech companies are expanding outside of California due to the heavy tax burden and government regulation. Here is a list of other US cities that would be good to check out. Obviously, there are a lot great tech jobs outside of the US as well, but I don’t know as much about those. Would definitely not ignore tech hubs outside the US though. One warning about Austin, TX is that it is quickly catching up to where Silicon Valley is in terms of expensive cost of living and strong competition for finding jobs. I have a friend there who is having to move out of Austin because she and her fiancé can no longer afford it (even though they both have high-paying tech jobs).

https://www.udacity.com/blog/2021/10/5-emerging-american-tech-cities-in-2021.html

>Just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I am abroad and tried to sign in with issues. I had Mullvad VPN which is usually considered a top-tier paid VPN and it was not working. This method worked and I signed up to vote from abroad in the upcoming election (what a nightmare).

I am in London too, and I just got it to work. Someone suggested downloading and using Opera as stated here and it worked well. I was able to register to vote too.

Just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I am abroad and tried to sign in with issues. I had Mullvad VPN which is usually considered a top-tier paid VPN and it was not working. This method worked and I signed up to vote from abroad in the upcoming election (what a nightmare).

damn that's weird. I just tried loading the page while on ProtonVPN on Windows w/ Firefox and it loaded, but I am in the US to begin with. Maybe some of the settings need to be messed with like turning off Split Tunneling? sorry, that must be frustrating

if you know anyone in the US who you are comfortable sharing your SSN with, they could fill it out for you and put all of your contact info (though phone number may be another issue)

I'm in Mexico and use PrivateVPN, but was having trouble with a NY location. Then switched to an LA IP and also opened the site in an incognito window and it worked perfectly. Not sure which change made a difference, but I got through and completed the form in about 2 minutes.

I heard from a friend that Mullvad VPN works. I don't have that one though so I'm going to ask a family member back in the states.

It's actually stupid as hell it's region-locked. They only ask for your name, email, and SSN. That's literally all the form has.

I'm in Croatia currently and same issue. I pay for NordVPN and connected to US: Chicago and still didn't work. Might have to ask parents back home to do for me also. They should fix this as being outside US at the time shouldn't affect eligibility.

I have the same problem.

If I use ExpressVPN I can get to the application page, but it asks for a US phone number which I haven't had for over a decade. I feel like I shouldn't have to commit perjury just to apply for debt relief.

FOR EXPATS GETTING THE "ACCESS DENIED ERROR"

You are not alone - it seems to be a general problem amongst expats. Through Googling, I found that apparently they are willing to mail out paper versions to expats.

Just to give some tips to any other expats who are getting the "Access Denied" error.

I used a VPN "Private Internet Access". It does cost money (£1.76/month) but it did work. Feel free to comment with any other VPNs that have worked.

I connected to California.

Oh and Brockhaus...
Hiding your business behind Perfect Privacy didn't save you from my search. Your IP address for the website didn't hide your shady ass from public records. How's Jackson, FL treating you? Just FYI Brockhaus, your business entity isn't correct for debt collections standards and your emails fail to identify you as a debt collector as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Your business is incorrectly registered as business management consulting, so I wouldn't be surprised if you've been dodging taxes in either St. Louis, MO or Jackson, FL too. When the students and teachers are done with CEHE, don't be surprised when we all cooperate in the ensuing federal (criminal) investigation that will likely follow.

You stole from the public Carl, Erick and Brockhaus and trying to hide behind a dead man's (Don's death was registered in 2020) business won't give you plausible deniability. If I was able to find you, they already have and know everything already. I am no one and I was able to find you. We're all coming for the three of you, we'll see you in court.

Your Career Services Department had one job... You failed to ensure their success and that is ultimately what brought the house of cards down. You failed your students, your staff and the public tax payer. But worse than that, you robbed the nation of bright minds by shafting them with worthless credentials. You acted in direct conflict with Ann Rand's philosophy Carl. You succeeded in depriving America of her future, and I hold all three of you responsible.

Barring debt forgiveness or bankruptcy, the only ways to pay less are to refinance your loans or pay your loans off more quickly (minimizing the interest you pay). You can't get private loans forgiven, and it's difficult to discharge student loans in bankruptcy.

If you enter all your loan balances, minimum payments, and interest rates in a debt calculator like undebt.it, you can play around with different strategies (snowball, avalanche, hybrid, etc) and monthly payment amounts to see how those will affect your payoff timeline and therefore how much you'll end up paying over the life of your loan.

Meanwhile, if you can tighten up your budget (I use YNAB) and/or increase your income, you can maximize the amount you're sending to your debt each month to try and get that interest off your back. Good luck! I feel your pain...

There is a way to reduce the monthly payments for PARENT PLUS loans by getting them into PAYE using a double consolidation strategy but the strategy is used for people who are OK going for debt forgiveness in 20years and paying the tax due at that stage. It’s too long winded to put here. Contact me if you want to know more. https://calendly.com/ericmcginley/studentloan30m

You wanted to chat with a FP; I am one and I am a Certified Student Loan Loan Professional (CSLP), so I understand this issue. The meeting is free - https://calendly.com/ericmcginley/studentloan30m

Then you need to see if they moved you off the IDR plan onto the Standard plan. You would have seen a jump in repayment. If you want to have a chat book a free appointment. https://calendly.com/ericmcginley/studentloan30m

Sorry it was confusing but there are a lot of details that need to be taken into account. If you want to discuss further we can Zoom (https://calendly.com/ericmcginley/30m) and I can share an Excel sheet and run through the numbers.

I think 20 percent is a huge deal, but I suppose that's subjective.

You also have to figure in the 50 percent of loans that are not in default but are in deferment or forbearance.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-students-delay-repaying-loans-2013-01-30

Then there are all those IBR and PAYE loans with broke ass grads who are only paying 20 dollars a month.

Then you have the people making payments they can barely afford.

My smartphone plan is around 50 dollars a month. I got one when I realized my study groups were setting up meetings via smartphone email and I was out of the loop until I got my laptop to a wifi hotspot. If your major involves groupwork you need a data plan, otherwise you'll get home and start up the computer only to discover that your group changed the meeting time and already met without you, or agreed on a time without your input that doesn't work for you.

If you would like someone to talk to for free anytime of the day anonymously, https://www.7cups.com/ is a great place to vent or sob or whatever, we don't mind listening to you! Your life and your family's life are worth more than your debt, please don't let this mountain win vs. you because you can definitely do this if you don't give up. I am in a similar situation but can't finish anymore school or I'll go further into debt, which is mindbogglingly frustrating.

In the event that your windfall does materialize (something something chickens hatching), you could always submit alternative documentation of your income (i.e. pay stubs). Yes your payment might go up a little but it would probably be way less than including 250k of "income." That said, with stock options, it is my understanding that you don't pay taxes until you exercise the option (if that's the form your bonus takes). Even if it is actual stock, II'm pretty sure you are only paying taxes on the strike price. The change is capital gains. I would follow the other advice you have gotten and use that bonus to pay off your loans entirely.

https://www.schwab.com/public/eac/resources/articles/your_stock_awards.html

Try AdGuard. Super easy to set up, simply change the dns in your device WiFi settings. Rather than seeing an ad, you just see a blank space where it should be. A few things to note, it will only work when connected to the WiFi networks you updated, it will not block ads when using cell data. It will also kill the ability to click on sponsored links in google search results.

How long is residency? How much do you make? Are you married and how much do they make?

If residency is a couple years, you're making like $50-60k, and you're not married, I recommend you enroll in REPAYE and take advantage of the interest subsidy. Even if these aren't the exact facts of your situation, I think this is a very viable option, but will just be a little different.

When you enroll in REPAYE your payment is determined by [Adjusted Gross Income - (Poverty Level * 150%)] * 10%. So basically if you make $60k, your monthly payment would be $348/month.

How the subsidy works is that the government will pay 100% of the unmet interest on subsidized loans for the first 3 years and 50% after that, and 50% of the unmet interest of unsubsidized loans. So some very rough math shows you're accruing $1,864 in interest every month. So if you pay the $348 minimum, the fed would then pay ($1,864-$348)/2 = $758 towards your loan every month. You're allowed to pay extra towards your loan and this will not decrease the amount the feds pick up, you'll get that $758 credit even if you pay more. I see you have some subsidized loans, so the math will be a little different, but you get the point.

After you're out of residency and making a real salary, you could consider refinancing with SoFi or whoever, but I wouldn't recommend that if you aren't making much yet as the REPAYE subsidy is likely a better deal.

Others have said you're a dentist, but a quick read of Medical Student Loans by Ben White may really help you out.

Research /r/personalfinance and read Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover if you don't know where to start. Not everyone agrees with him but it's a motivating book and might help you out.

Parroting what others said...pay as much as you can! Consolidate and/or refinance if they apply or make sense in your situation.

I liked the Total Money Makeover. While I don't agree with every single thing he says, it's worth looking into. Also, he has free podcasts. I've been listening for over a year now and actually feel like I understand more financial things, at least on a basic level. Plus, there's a pretty big community of followers out there. Always helpful to know there are others working on similar situations, good motivation and support.

Bah, I had a long reply and hit back. Yes, I think it is a bad idea. I hope you will read the Total Money Makeover, because I think he makes a good case for only buying a house when you can afford to buy a house, but here are a few you-specific reasons:

• Not as cheap as you think: Yes, a mortgage is cheaper than renting. But I seriously doubt home ownership is cheaper than renting. Do you have 10k laying around for a major home repair? Of course not, because you have debt payments. Does your calculation include the annual costs like property taxes?
• Saving for a downpayment for a house is downright stupid given the interest rates on your loans: There is no way your home will give you an 11.25% return on investment. Paying off that $21,662.96 loan will. You will never ever have a guaranteed 11.25% return again. Pay it off as fast as possible.
• You are not ready for this: I want you to read back through your comments here. You didn't understand where your loan payments were going. You lost your budget. You're asking a stranger on the internet whether renting or buying is the right choice for you. You're at the start of your knowledge journey. There's no shame in that; you just need to stave off making any more major life decisions until you fully understand what financial repercussions they will have on your life. I have total faith that you are going to take learning about your current mess seriously and that you are going to take steps to fix it. But until you do, don't saddle yourself with more debt and a house that may well be more of heartache than a blessing.

Don't take my word for this. Read, call in to the Dave Ramsey radio show, post to /r/personalfinance, talk to the most financially stable people you know, etc. Do your research, in other words, and make sure you're making the wisest choices you can. You've got this.

Here's one article you can ready about budgeting to get an idea of where to get started: http://www.learnvest.com/knowledge-center/your-ultimate-budget-guideline-the-502030-rule/.

An easy way to start a budget is using Mint.com. It's a good way to track all your accounts in once place. However, it's not going to help you save money and set a budget by itself. You could track student loans in there, too, although there are better tools for helping you pay them off.

If you're serious about budgeting, I'd pick up a book. I recommend "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey or "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. I know it's not the most fun topic to read up on, but it can literally save/make you thousands of dollars if you figure this out now.

Good luck!

Why Does College Cost So Much? is a great book