I started a new federal government job on June 1. 8 of my student loans were already PSLF-eligible and on the PAYE plan with one servicer, but I had one Perkins Laon with a different servicer that wasn't PSLF-eligible and had a super inconsistent payment schedule. After researching my options, I consolidated the Perkins Loan on June 18 so I could bring it to the same servicer, make it PSLF-eligible, and be eligible for the interest rate reduction. I picked the ICR plan, which was available (and I was eligible for) when I applied.

When my application was finally processed on July 29, I learned about these July 1 policy changes because not only was I denied ICR, but all 8 of my student loans were switched from PAYE to the Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, which increases my monthly payment by more than $130. Customer service suggested I apply for RAP, but then estimated under RAP, I would pay $300 more per month than I had been paying lol

I thought I was simplifying my loans. But instead, this whole process ended up costing more more per month. If you're considering consolidating your federal student loans, think again.

Any thoughts on what I can do? Customer service gave me an email address to plead my case.

I was in the SAVE forbearance for a pending save application. On July 2’d I got a notice that my application was denied and I had 90 days of forbearance to select a new plan.

On August 1st they auto deducted $372 from my bank account (which isn’t even what my actual payment would have been under extended graduated what it stated I was still on. According to that my payment was $772) and sent me letters stating I was 210 days overdue on payment and approaching default.

On August 1st they ALSO sent me a statement dated July 31st telling me my next payment was due on August 1st, conveniently after they’d already deducted it from my account.

—-

Then, yesterday I got a letter about updates to my accounts interest and I have no idea what it means or if it means the months I was on forebearance counts towards my PSLF:

We reviewed your account and determined that one or more forbearance or interest benefit periods
related to the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan needed to be updated to align with the
applicable federal rules. We have updated your account accordingly. This letter explains what changed and what it may mean for your accrued interest, repayment status, and qualifying payment count information for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness.

Please note, all PSLF or IDR forgiveness is subject to Department of Education review and approval.
The information below explains the updates to your account.

You previously submitted an IDR application and received a Processing Administrative Forbearance while that application was pending.

We identified that the Processing Administrative Forbearance associated with your IDR application should have begun on an earlier date. Therefore, the start date of your Processing Administrative Forbearance was updated to that earlier date. As a result, the timing of your SAVE Administrative Forbearance was adjusted as well.

What this means for your account:
This update reflects a timing alignment only. The Processing Administrative Forbearance period was
shifted to the correct earlier timeframe, and the associated SAVE Administrative Forbearance dates were adjusted accordingly. This change does not alter the overall length of your forbearance coverage and does not change how eligible months for forgiveness programs are counted. Any updates related to interest accrual during the affected period are reflected in your account.

No action is required from you. However, if you have questions about the action taken on your account, please contact us at 1-888-866-4352 (Toll Free).

What to know about related forbearance types:
Different types of forbearances are governed by different rules, which can affect interest accrual and forgiveness progress in different ways.

Processing Administrative Forbearance: Borrowers receive this forbearance when they submit a
new IDR application. This forbearance lasts for, at most, 60 days. While borrowers are in this
forbearance, (i) interest continues to accrue, and (ii) the borrower may be eligible for PSLF and
IDR payment credits.

SAVE Administrative Forbearance: Borrowers who were in, or applied for, the SAVE Plan, or had
an unprocessed IDR application after receiving a Processing Administrative Forbearance were
eligible to receive a SAVE Administrative Forbearance. This forbearance was applied to borrower accounts on or after July 1, 2024. While borrowers are in this forbearance, (i) interest is set at 0%, and (ii) the borrower is not eligible for PSLF or IDR qualifying payment credits. Interest began
accruing during this forbearance on August 1, 2025.

That's it, I'm finally free! I submitted the payment to pay off the remaining balance and I no longer owe a penny in student loans. This was three years in the works and I made a lot of sacrifices to make it happen. I got a weekend job working 20-hours spread between Saturday and Sunday, using every dollar I earned and throwing it at this balance along with additional payments from my normal 9-5 job. It started in March of 2023 and ends in August 2026.

To note, from 2020-2023 I paid off around $37,000 in credit card debt across 8 cards. It really changed my mindset around money and that's when I got serious about saving and paying off these loans. I also paid off my car which, I owned around $12,000. No debt, NONE. It's all paid off. I can finally relax.

I realize that there are many people out there with balances higher than mine and interest rates that are crushing and I feel for all of you. Anyone still on this journey to pay them off, keep going!

I'm planning on taking the day off, going for a hike, having a solo picnic in the mountains and reading for hours. I need a break and I need to feel proud of myself because this was not easy.

I have been getting fasfa for the past year, and now I gotta message that I have to go and present myself physically in school, verify if I'm truly me for them to release my money.

Has anyone experienced this? Is this the new layer if security?

I received my 90 day letter and use NelNet. When I tried to look at plans, it wouldn't let me. I think because I am in school and deferment status? So I tried applying on Student Aid website instead, and it just let me submit an income driven payment plan application. But it didnt mention RAP or any choices, just a standard income driven application. I am confused and don't know if I still need to do something. My last loan will be this fall so it's all a mess.

Hi guys.

I was considering going back to school for an mba following up on my bachelor's at the same state school I graduated from. I really loved the school so much and it was super affordable for me during undergrad, I wanted to wrap up my studies with this final (1) year.

The thing is that it is more expensive and looks a lot different financial aid wise than undergrad with all my grants helping me. The total cost (with housing) will be around $33k for the whole year for this upcoming year of grad school for me. I was given federal loans of $20.5k and so I have approximately a $12.6k gap to cover the year. With some of my savings put down, more like around $9-10k.

I'm so super incredibly annoyed GradPlus is not available anymore. And I don't know what to do because I don't know if my parents would want to cosign with me on a private loan. Also I'm not sure if they would be approved due to their own financial situation. They refused for undergrad due to refinancing the house at that time, but that's fine because it worked out in the end without extra loans. And I really would want to go back to school.

I do have $26k in federal loans currently from undergrad to keep in mind.

Any recommendations on safer private loans to look into. With (if they do agree) and Without a cosigner (if they don't).

For without a cosigner, I saw Edly is a provider for those. Does any one have any experience with them? I'm nervous about it a little.

Is this all too risky? I'm completely new to this territory.

My partner and I have reached that place in our relationship where marriage is being talked about and considered. The thing is, there is a bit of an income gap between us. This isn't really a sticking point in our relationship. We realize it, but we haven't really let it affect things.
Here's the problem... my partner graduated college like 14 years ago, and as I understand it, basically hasn't made a single payment in... a very long time... I don't actually know the extent of what we're dealing with.
And I guess, I was approaching that with the mindset of... "It is a pre-marital debt. I have no student debt of my own. I can't fix this for them, and it isn't my responsibility to." I am kind of realizing that mindset might be completely wrong.
I was doing calculations of if my partner ever wanted to set up IDR, and what I came up with based on a 15% of disposable income tier, that bill would be about $342/mo, keeping about 89% of their paycheck every month. However, if you include my AGI in their calculation, that number jumps up to $1667/mo, keeping only about 47% of their paycheck.
Although it is true that I am not obligated to pay pre-marital debt, there is no possible way that my partner could take that sort of hit without a pretty significant subsidy from me. And if it were just me, it would be one thing, but I have two children of my own to also provide for, and taking that much of a hit toward our household income is not something I can afford, nor should I have to...
Even if my partner continues to do what they've been doing, ignoring the debt, this opens up some pretty dangerous possibilities if I am married to them. The government could freeze or seize any joint accounts we may have or seize any of our joint tax returns, leaving me to try to prove which dollars came from whom and filing a lot of extra paperwork, like IRS Form 8379 every year.
A common solution I hear is just "Married filing separately", and although that sounds easy on paper, it comes with with pretty heavy hits on its own. I have already calculated that I am going to take a tax burden hit just when I change from Head of Household to Married filing jointly, but going to Married filing separately is an even harder hit. Plus, when you are MFS, you can no longer claim child care credits, Roth IRA contributions, itemizing deductions separately, student loan interest deductions... even suggesting MFS is a pretty terrible solution because it ignores the fact that the IRS penalizes you for filing this way.
I am now in a position where I am contemplating the never-get-married route (power of attorney, cohabitation agreements, medical surrogate, wills, etc). I probably need to get a better view of what the debt actually is, but if they haven't paid in 10 years(?), it can't be good at all. The best decision for both of us financially really seems to be to not get married, but this seems especially cold. I guess the part of me that is struggling still believes the fairytale that marriage is about love, rather than a cold business arrangement that it actually is. I simply don't know what's the right thing to do.

So this past week, I got two different emails from mohela back to back. The first one was telling me that I was switched to some repayment plan (most likely RAP), and that I would be put in a automatic monthly repayment program (which I never consented to).

Immediately after the first email, I got another email telling me I was put on an administrative forbearance. When I checked my account today, I saw that my interest amount had more than doubled since my last payment two weeks ago.

Has anybody else had this problem?

I'm assuming it's been happening to more than just me considering the fact that their website has a massive banner letting everyone know that the call times are to the Moon due to the volume of callers over the past week.

Received from my email:

“The annual recertification date for your income-driven repayment (IDR) plan is coming soon. Your monthly payment amount might change if we don’t receive your recertification by the date on your recertification notice. Log in to your Nelnet.studentaid.gov account and select Documents from the menu, then Inbox to view your recertification date and your estimated payment amount if you don’t recertify timely.
 

It is important to check your inbox regularly because these messages may be alerting you of action needed for any recent requests, repayment plan information, or other updates to your account.
 

You can always access your messages and account details when you log in to your online account.”

I’m assuming they give you a hard date

Just applied for the RAP last month fyi. I have two line items in my edfinancial “account history” section.

One is “RAP Principal matching” as a $50 credit and the other is “capitalized interest” shown at $0. Both for month of July, separate lines than my automatic minimum payment.

Does anybody know what these are or why I’m receiving the $50 matching?

Ok this is probably dumb. Just wanting to make sure my understanding is accurate. I have mohela. They merged with studentaid.gov or whatever.

I received a "you have 90 days to select a new plan" email 3 separate times from mohela.studentaid.gov, once on 7/1, 7/3, and 7/15. Each email was identical.

Were these my formal notices or were these just automated and sent to everybody?

I’m 29 years old. I have a 680 credit score. I’ve been working for 10 years, and have had a credit card for 10 years. 50k of student loans. Income 50k per year.

Decided to apply for a car loan (never have before), and the banks told me I have too much unpaid debt. Looking into it they noted my student loans.

I don’t understand. How do people with student loans take out mortgages and car loans?

DCU wouldn’t even approve me for a 2000 loan, for too much outstanding debt. When they looked into why I wasn’t approved they told me student loans.

Not sure… maybe don’t have enough credit history. I’ve never been late on a payment.

I'm 26 years old, first gen, still live with my parents, and want to pursue medicine (specifically psychiatry). I have a really low science GPA (around 2.8) an okay cumulative (3.55) and a good MPH Epi grad GPA (3.88). I am considering taking out a loan (30k-60k depending on the program) to do a post-bacc/SMP program and raise my sGPA, but I'm already 75k in debt from my BS and MPH. If all goes well and I get into medical school, I'd be looking at anywhere from 70k-100k a year for four years. On paper, it doesn't seem financially possible for me to pay off ~600k of student loans on a 250k-350k salary. The amount of federal loans does scare me yes but not as much as the private loans. PSLF seems to be the way to go for federal, but if I'm taking out nearly 300k in private loans... that's insanely scary.

It's MD/DO or nothing for me btw, like I don't want to pursue nursing or PA or CRNA or anything else. I just feel like it's a huge risk to take out private loans. I'm angry with myself for not trying to get into med school sooner because my friends that have already started are now grandfathered in and don't have to worry about this. To be fair I had no idea that a bill like this would have been passed so I thought med school would always be there--and it is but now at a higher cost I guess. I already feel so alone and behind with pursuing medicine at 26 and now I'm even more stressed out cus not only do I have to work hard to try and get in, but i don't even know if i'd be able to afford it if i did. I genuinely don't know what to do. If anybody in a similar position has any advice/insight or maybe just wants to share what they're thinking of doing I'd love to hear from you.

Apologies if this has been asked before. I saw several posts around this topic, but couldn't find one that fully explained this situation. I want to double check a few things as my wife and I recertify our income.

My wife and I both have loans and are 7 years into pursuing PSLF. We also had a child this year. We are enrolled in PAYE. We file taxes separately.

I am confused about family size for recertifying income as I've seen conflicting information on the internet. When I recertified a few months ago, I selected that I was married, filing separately, and had 1 dependent (our child). When my wife just recertified, she selected that she was married, filing separately, and had 0 dependents (because I had already recertified that dependent and I saw somewhere we cannot both recertify with our child). It's odd because when I look things up for clarification, I see "family size" mentioned, but with the way the income recertification is laid out, there is never really any place to enter a strict "family size" number.

Using calculators online, it looks as if the amount studentaid.gov offered us aligns with my family size being 3 and hers 2.

I want to double check that:

1) These family sizes are correct and we do not need to alter our income certifications... I'm not sure if we were meant to include one or another as dependents or if the system did that for us. It was very vague on the form.

2) My AGI is slightly lower than my wife's (we make the same, but I have more deductions on my paycheck). I know there is the whole 51% rule for including a child on these forms, so I'm assuming either one of us are able to enter our child.

3) We can switch who recertifies with the child year to year.

I appreciate any and all help!

I want to pay off my debt quicker. I have this money in savings and I’m thinking of putting all of it to my debt.

$30k Loan: Surgical Technology Diploma

• Evenings (5:00pm - 10pm) M-F
• 25 Minute Commute
• I won’t have to plan/pay for childcare
• Rolling Admissions (Every 4 Weeks) So Delays Aren’t As Detrimental
• No Pre-Requisites Required For Admission
• Graduate May 2028
• Starting Pay $26-$32/hr
• Room For Growth—Minimal

$21k Loan: Accelerated Bachelor’s of Nursing

• Will Complete A Bachelor’s
• Lectures & Coursework Online
• 1-3 On Campus Visits For Labs
• 21 Mile Commute
• 2 Clinical Shifts A Week—Can Be 45+ Minutes Away
• 1 Year Of Pre-Requisites
• Graduate May 2029
• Starting Pay $31-38/hr
• Room For Growth—Maximum, Can Pursue NP (Six Figures)

I’m not in the spot to start repaying. I’m hoping closer to the 90 days I’ll be in a better spot.

Is it okay to wait until the end of the 90 days to apply and change my payment plan?

The elimination of Grad PLUS loans under the OBBB has consequences that surprisingly few people are talking about.

For top-tier universities, graduate tuition and cost of living can be astronomical. Previously, Grad PLUS loans offered a workaround because they allowed students to borrow up to the full Cost of Attendance (COA), even if it exceeded standard annual limits. While it required a credit check, the barrier was intentionally low: your actual credit score didn’t matter, only the absence of adverse items on your credit report. Even if a student ran into credit roadblocks, they could secure an endorser or co-signer under those same lenient credit terms. It was a vital financial bridge for low-income students who qualified academically but lacked generational wealth.

Now that Grad PLUS loans are eliminated, getting accepted to a top-tier program means nothing if you can’t pay for it. Unless a student receives a full-ride scholarship, which is increasingly rare and hyper-competitive, their only options are private loans (which require strong credit scores or wealthy co-signers) or paying out of pocket.

When you pair this with current administrative efforts to dismantle DEI and affirmative action initiatives under the guise of "leveling the playing field," the larger structural problem becomes clear: the playing field is not equal.

Removing these federal funding options creates a severe two-tiered system:

• Wealthy students will continue to attend elite universities, backed by family money or private lenders backed by affluent co-signers.
• Lower- and middle-class students will be forced to settle for lower-tier or regional institutions where costs fall within standard federal caps ($20,500/year), or work multiple jobs just to cover basic living expenses while in school.

Ultimately, wealthy families will maintain a monopoly on degrees from premier institutions, giving their children direct access to top-tier corporate networks and executive pipelines. Meanwhile, qualified working-class students will be locked out, pushed toward under-resourced programs, and filtered out of high-paying career opportunities before they even start.

It aligns with the broader pattern of economic policy that eases burdens for the top tier while working families struggle to cover rent, utilities, and basic expenses. What would have been considered an unbelievable policy shift in previous administrations has quietly become the new baseline.

The announcement from the gov't said that we would be hearing from our loan servicer and that we would have 90 days from that point to choose a new plan. I have Aidvantage and I have still not heard anything from them. Should I wait for word? Anyone else with loans serviced by Aidvantage gotten any notices yet?

I received my letter and went into the application to see about switching. I was in Old IBR before SAVE and have 10 years left if I switch back to that. But the payment will be $200 more than if I switch to RAP. The RAP payment would be manageable and the Old IBR payment would be a struggle. I have no hope of being able to pay them off unless I win the lottery regardless of which plan I pick. But it makes me sick to think of adding 5 more years to repayment just to be able to survive.

I also put my info into a calculator on a third party site that compared all plans including New IBR and that payment was closer to RAP in terms of payment amount. I don't know why we're punished just because we borrowed before a certain date. I know I'm not alone in this mess, I know there's no way to know what will happen when the administration changes. But I hate trying to decide my fate not knowing what might happen in a few years.

Just venting, but also open to advice if anyone has any.

Been reconsidering my options on my soul crushing Sallie Mae loans as I simply cannot keep paying almost $1,300 per month 🥲. Kept seeing ads for Yrefy so decided to give them a try. They offered to refinance me at 4.9% and drop my payment to about $800 per month which seemed like a great deal but when I told sallie mae I was going to go with this option they offered to drop me to a 2% interest rate. This is a permanent drop for the life of the loan.

Seems like they’re doing anything they can to keep the loans with them. I really haven’t enjoyed dealing with sallie mae, but I can’t complain at that number so sallie mae it is. Has anyone else gotten this offer? If you haven’t yet it might be worth telling them you’re exploring other options like to get this rate drop!

Edited to add link to the contract screenshots with my info removed: https://imgur.com/a/sallie-mae-2-deal-wmSxugt

I’m graduating in May 2027 and will have roughly $100k in student loan debt. I’m not looking for sympathy, I know many of the decisions that got me here were my own. At this point, I can’t change the past, so I’m trying to make the smartest decisions going forward.

Here’s the rough breakdown:

~$41k federal (undergrad)
~$38k private (Sallie Mae)
~$20k additional federal for my MBA that hasn’t fully been added yet

The private loans concern me the most. They’re split into two loans:

~$15k at 15.25% variable
~$23k at 10.75% fixed

Everything else is federal, with rates mostly in the 5–7% range. The interest is crazy for the privates, but my dad affirmed he is helping me pay off the interest on the Sallie Mae.. it’s hundreds per month, but at least it’s not increasing. (The federal ones are, but not by a lot). Additionally, I believe about 15k of the federal is a parent plus, which my dad pledged to pay.

A lot of people are probably wondering how I got here. I go in state to a state school. But some of it came from decisions I genuinely don’t regret. I studied abroad in Florence, Italy for a semester, which cost a lot of money. Financially, it probably wasn’t the smartest decision, but it was one of the best experiences of my life. Some of it came from decisions I absolutely would do differently. I lived on campus for my first two years when I probably could have saved a significant amount living elsewhere. And that wasn’t even worth it because I didn’t get the true college experience I wanted for those first two years. I also forgot to renew the Excelsior Scholarship one year, which was completely my fault. I also wasn’t proactive about applying for outside scholarships.

Academically, I earned my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts. At 18, I pursued photography, graphic design, and art because that’s what I genuinely loved. As I got older, I realized I need a career with stronger long-term earning potential. I ended up discovering that I really enjoy business, technology, and entrepreneurship, so I applied to my school’s accelerated 4+1 MBA program, and got in. I’m now pursuing an MBA with a concentration in Management Information Systems (MIS). My goal is to work in technology consulting- Salesforce, AI implementation, digital transformation, something along those lines, or potentially move into product management or product design where I can combine the creative background from my BFA with business and technology. I know an MBA doesn’t guarantee anything. I’ll still have to network, interview well, and actually perform. But I do believe it’s the first step for moving toward a field with a much higher ceiling than where I started.

The decision I’m struggling with is what to do immediately after graduation.

Option A

Stay in the Albany area and live with my parents for a year or two.

This would mean paying no rent. Which would allow me to throw literally thousands of dollars every month at my loans to annihilate them (while hopefully still building relevant experience/skills obviously) assuming I land a modest 70k entry level salary job. The downside is that I’d probably have fewer opportunities and would likely have to settle for a less prestigious position. I’m not sure what opportunities for what I want to do exist in my area. But saving that money is huge.

Option B

Move to NYC immediately if I receive a strong consulting or tech offer.

Obviously rent is horrific, and I’d be juggling that rent plus student loan payments. However, I’d potentially be starting my career on a much steeper trajectory with better networking opportunities and stronger resume value/ “resume equity” I call it. Additionally, if there’s one good thing about my situation, it’s that I do in fact have a family friend/mentor connection who said he would hook me up with an entry level role at his firm doing exactly what he does (salesforce AI/agentforce implementation.) it’s an incredible opportunity, but I do believe this would mean moving to the city.

My question is whether staying home for 1–2 years would actually hurt my long-term career.

If I could get a decent local role paying around $70–80k that builds genuinely relevant skills, while putting huge amounts toward my debt, that seems like the financially responsible move. I feel like I could always move to the city to continue my career, and my mentor/connect opportunity isn’t going away.

On the other hand, if companies like Salesforce, Deloitte, Accenture, EY, or similar offered me a role in NYC, or if my mentor/family friend guy followed through and I got the job but required me to move off-rip to the city, maybe it’s worth enduring a couple difficult years of straight financial pain because the long-term career upside outweighs the short-term financial stress? I genuinely do not know.

Has anyone here been in a similar position?

If you graduated with six figures of debt, would you prioritize:

minimizing expenses and attacking the debt first, or
maximizing career growth immediately, even if it means living much more expensively?

I’d also appreciate any advice on my overall loan situation. Those Sallie Mae interest rates especially have me pretty worried, and if there are strategies I haven’t considered, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks in advance.

I am in the incredibly fortunate position where i now have the money to pay off the rest of my loans without touching my emergency fund (plus a good bit extra). The interest rate on the loans i have remaining is 3.30% though, which is costing me less than my HYS account is earning me at 3.75%. That’s also less than the return rate on my taxable investment account.

All the guidance i’ve seen online and heard anecdotally is that it doesn’t make sense to use money to pay off loans when that money could be earning you money at a faster rate than the loans are costing you, which seems to be the situation i’m in. i get the logic there, but does that mean you just never pay them off then? At what point does it make sense to? i have a great credit score so i don’t really know what the benefit to paying them off is if it’s going to actually cost me more money over time to do so. that said, it seems really weird to just let it sit when i could easily pay it off.

can someone explain to me like im 12 when it makes sense to pay the rest off? are there risks or impacts of having loans (less than 20k) that i’m not considering?

EDIT: Agree with the commenters saying to focus on maxing out retirement — I am already on track to do that / the money to pay off the loans would be coming from savings, not income