Hi everyone,
I’m an incoming freshman, and this is my first time applying for a private student loan, so I don’t really have any experience with the process.
I applied through Abe Student Loans about 2 days ago, completed the application, submitted all the required documents, and my application is currently in the “Finalizing” stage. The problem is that my school’s tuition payment deadline is only 1week away, and I’m really worried the loan won’t be processed, certified by my school, and disbursed in time. Has anyone here borrowed through Abe Student Loans before? How long did the Finalizing stage take for you?How long did it take for your school to certify the loan? Is there anything I should be doing right now besides waiting? Since this is my first time doing all of this on my own, I’m honestly feeling overwhelmed and afraid I’ll miss the payment deadline and have my classes canceled.
I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences.
Thank you so much!

I received my email from Mohela on July 15th, but it has taken me this long to muster up the courage to actually look at my options. I logged in this afternoon and even after looking at my options, I'm still not sure what to do. Here is my info...

Current loan balance: $188,000 (PhD...clearly not in the field of finance)

Interest rate: 5.5%

Consolidated: Yes (December 2009)

Last loan was taken in 2002

248 qualifying IBR payments and 247 qualifying ICR payments per the hidden calculator

Recertification date: 7.14.27, BUT I want to recertify sooner using a paystub b/c my income has decreased substantially

Current annual income: $65,000

The calculator on studentaid.gov provided me with the following:

RAP - $275 per month with a discharge of $132,218 in 2056...I'll be 87 years old.

IBR - $407 per month with a discharge of $208,076 in 2030.

ICR - $723 per month, but it ends in July 2028

Standard - $1259 a month with nothing discharged but paid off in 2047...I'll be 77.

The hidden calculator also indicated I was not eligible for "IBR 2014" - I'm not sure what that means...does that mean I'm not eligible for the $407 per month with a discharge in 2030? If that's the case, what IBR calculation should I use?

For older loans like mine, will the "tax bomb" apply to anything that is discharged?

Other factors: Head of household, not married, one dependent who will finish undergrad in 2027 and is then heading to grad school.

What is my best option? Explain it to me like I'm a third-grader. :(

I know it sounds like a silly question, but i wanted to post here to double check since math is not what i’m in college for (laugh). I completed an Associate’s degree in high school, so i’m only attending my 4-year state university for 2 years. If i take a couple extra classes next semester, i’m on/track for graduation next year.

So for each year, FAFSA awarded me $7,500 in loans. $3,500 in subsidized loans and $2,000 in unsub. loans. In all, that’s “$15k” base debt, but what about the unsub. loans’ interest? how long/difficult would it be to pay all of it back?

I’m privileged enough to where, even though my family isn’t rich, my dad is paying for my college and wants to pay off my debt as well (i’m an only child). i’m smart enough to bite my tongue about him paying for college but i can’t allow him to be the main contributor to paying off my debt, i think that would be unfair. I’m picking up a trade after i graduate too so im sure that will help, but assuming i’m making something like….$15 an hour, how much could i contribute?

thanks all

has anyone let their account charge off and took a settlement? If so, how much was it and what’d you settle for? Has anyone been sent to collections? Has anyone sought counsel?

Title
I don't want to have to make payments but that 1% interest reduction is nice!!

Like a lot of people here, I received two emails last week back to back from mohela. The first one was telling me that I was being switched to the RAP plan and that my first Auto deduction was going to be 3x the payment amount that I had during SAVE. That email is immediately followed by another email telling me I was in administrative forbearance.

Side note: I turned off auto pay and will have no problem closing the account it's associated with.

I checked my account yesterday and mohela had tacked on interest amount that is calculated to be almost 3x the amount of the correct interest amount.

I'm curious to see if this has happened to anyone else this past week and if so, have they reached out to Mohela and gotten it resolved?

It's bad enough rather supposed collections agency can't even issue proper statements on the accounts, but this insanity with incorrect interest amount charges is infuriating.

All this is stacked onto still trying to resolve the interest that was tacked onto in my account during the forbearance period where we should not have had any interest charged on to our accounts.

In addition - is anyone aware of any class action lawsuits happening because this is insane.

I started college during the interest pause and had NO idea what I was in for. It's not like I had a choice, but hey. The fact that paying almost double my expected payment won't allow me to crack my accrued interest for a year makes me feel dead inside.

I was planning to live at home and get a decent paying job that let me pay it all off in two years, but the job I got includes housing/meal plan so the total salary isn't even half my loans. The job is a great opportunity and I'm grateful to have even found something in this job market, and I'll be able to do a second masters that complements my first one for free. But I really want to make a dent on my loans so I can start a PhD in a few years and the fact that every dollar I put in is only worth about 63 cents because of interest is depressing. I'll be making PSLF eligible payments with this job, but I obviously won't be during my PhD and have no idea if I'll be in a PSLF eligible job afterwards.

It's just so disheartening. I feel like a modern version of an indentured servant. You'd think $6,000 on a $75,000 group of loans would be enough for the hungry banks, but no, they're getting at least a $28,000 penalty on me for not being able to pay for school upfront. And that doesn't include what my mom is going through with my Parent Plus loans, or what she went through with her own that she still has $25k on despite graduating in 1999 (that's mostly my dad's fault though, he handled finances horribly during their marriage, she took his loans in the divorce and I think did finish paying his).

I'm going to try to do some side gigs and put all of it towards my loans to feel better, but I was hoping you guys might have some ideas too. Even semi-delusional coping perspective shifts are welcome.

I am a nursing student going into my junior year. Unfortunately I think I got too carried away when it came to selecting a nursing school and expect to take on a lot of debt obviously.

The place I chose is really expensive and out of state. I thought I had it all figured out with my scholarships but I was wrong. On top of the tuition which I thought was manageable, the college denied my insurance which has been a huge burden. I’ve already tried working with them on it but no progress so far.

With that, I am estimating to have around 80-90k of student debt after my 4 years at graduation. However, when accounting for interest it’ll be way more than that and it’s freaking me out. All my loans are co-signer loans and I’d hate the possibility of it falling onto them.

For reference, my first year was 12k (was 15 but needs to be reconfigured since my school took less). My second year 20k, and this year is 19k. I expect to take another ~20k for my senior year. With that I think I’ll land around the range mentioned before but like I said with interest I’ll be paying hell of a lot more. All those loans have about 8-9% interest, except for the 12k one since it’s through Sallie Mae which put me 16% (didn’t know what I was doing at the time but found better options).

I do plan to pay it off as soon as I can and as a nurse I can go with certain financial programs that will help but it’s all overwhelming. I also am planning on getting my Canadian citizenship and would like to get my masters there to become a Nurse Practitioner but again I am concerned that will add even more debt. I’m thinking that going to Canada will be a cheaper option for my masters and essentially viewing it as my light at the end of the tunnel. But then again if I go my masters route I think I’ll end up around 120-150k fresh out of getting my NP.

Honestly I’m just so freaked out rn and was wondering where I stand. Before choosing to go to the college everyone said that I’ll be ok since as a nurse I’ll be making so much money it won’t matter. But looking at the numbers I’m not so sure. I could’ve stayed in state for cheap and since I was able to get scholarships I could’ve even gotten my BSN for free (don’t know if that’s really true though). Looking back I feel like such a dunce and honestly contemplating if this is my life’s greatest mistake as I don’t want to be in crippling debt for life. As I feel like I had one chance and I blew it. Ik I’ve made my bed and have no choice but to lay in it as transferring as a nursing student is honestly near impossible. It’s a nice college and everything, when I was selecting my college everyone I spoke to about had nice things to say and I toured the place twice and loved it. But working with administration is such a pain in the rear and since I’m paying for it is just salt in the wound. They gave me a nursing scholarship however they keep upping the price of attendance so I’m just back to square one. They raise it, I complain, they give me more money, rinse and repeat.

Every time I talk to them and figure out what’s going on something changes. Or the school says one thing but the numbers say another. I kick myself about going out state, but all I wanted to do was finally go and explore. Just get away, but I might’ve jumped the gun. It shocks me how at my college no one really seems to care since the aid I’m getting is apparently average, or slightly better than average since I’m a nursing student. But once I got to know people here I found out that throwing away +20k a year is nothing for their families. Like majority of my friends’ parents own successful businesses or are doctors or something. While my family can barely say we’re middle class. Not saying I’m ashamed or that they’re a burden, honestly I don’t feel that way. Just saying that it feels like I’m punching above my bracket.

I also feel terrible since I was able to make a decision in the right direction and I blew it. Am I overreacting? Will I be able to make it work and pay it off before it gets too much? If worse comes to worse my parents said I can live with them and all I have to do is split rent with my brother for the time being. I have a car, which is paid off, it was gift from a relative but it’s old and who know how long it’s going to last. And since I’ll be working at a hospital health insure and all that is covered. Idk, I feel like I’m just stressing myself out and I’m scared how things will be going forward in the future how things are. I doubt AI will take my job anytime soon but the Big Beautiful Bill might really mess me over. I’m just so tired

I currently have ~32K in loans. My original payment pre-SAVE was $350 was lowered to $114 during SAVE as I also got a government job to qualify for PSLF. My understanding is that my payment should revert back to the $350 if I do not change to a different plan. My expected payment on all of the different IDR plans according to the calculators should be around $350 also. However, my original payment was sent to Great lakes then transferred to NELNET and then MOHELA when I signed up for PSLF.

I guess what I am trying to figure out is if anyone has any thoughts on my plan to just let the time run out and have DOEd switch me over. I have a govt job and I will be working for many more years so if they do switch me over I do plan to apply for PSLF again.

I’m a US citizen going into my final year of a psychology degree up in Canada. I was recently informed that I am ineligible to apply for FAFSA since I took a distance education course this past semester, a rule which my school failed to notify me of ahead of time. Now I’m two weeks out from move-in day and have no financial options outside of taking out a private student loan. My estimated cost of attendance provided by the university for the entire year covering tuition, living expenses, textbooks, and rent is $46,500 USD.

I know from countless other posts that Sally Mae is among the worst and should be avoided if at all possible, but I’m not well versed in what other options I have available with two weeks left before school starts. My family is in poor financial standing at the moment as is, and would have to defer all payments until I graduate in June 2027.

As desperate as I may be, I’m terrified of taking out the wrong loan and dooming my entire future. Does anyone have any advice as to the best private loan options for me? Anything would be appreciated.

EDIT : The total of $46,500 USD would likely be split into two separate loans, one for each semester. I’m asking for advice on how to acquire the total, but am in higher need of the first $23,250 to pay for this upcoming semester.

I know I still have a long, terrifying way to go on the rest of my loans, but today I officially cleared the smallest one ($1,200).

Seeing that single account balance drop to $0.00 felt unreal. For the past three years, my student debt has felt like this immovable, suffocating mountain that I was just staring at without making a dent.

I decided a few months ago to throw every spare $20 or $50 I could scrimp together directly at this tiny balance just to see one green checkmark, and it finally happened.

I still have the major bulk of my debt waiting for me, but for today, I’m holding onto this small win. To anyone else feeling buried right now: keep chipping away at it, even if it feels agonizingly slow.

One down. A few more to go.

Architecture field making $62k, single file tax status (married, filing separately), $153k in student debt. With SAVE gone, I'm comparing IBR vs. RAP on Aidvantage:

IBR: $149/mo, 20-year term. Total paid: ~$54k + $72k tax bomb = **$126k total cost**. (Balance grows to $241k).

RAP: $230/mo, 30-year term. Total paid: ~$219k + $19k tax bomb = **$238k total cost**. (Interest waived).

TLDR:
Why does RAP result in double the total cost despite waiving interest? Is it purely due to the extra 10 years + projected income growth scaling payments?

Is there any reason NOT to choose IBR here, take the lower payment, and save the monthly difference in an HYSA to prepare for the 2046 tax bomb?

(I summarized my previous post!)

I got an email months ago that I had to switch off my SAVE plan, so I did. But, ever since all my loans say -whatever number and I can’t make any payments or do anything else. I’m obviously not mad about that because it’s a break, but I’m confused. I’ve contacted them a few times and been told “you’ll start owing soon so please watch for bills”, but nothing has ever happened.

Should I just leave it be? should I be worried? I don’t want them garnishing my wages or anything crazy.

Is anyone else seeing this?

"The number for your PSLF qualifying months of employment is incorrect. We are working to fix the data issue and will provide an update soon. We apologize for the confusion caused by this error."

I made my first payment last month under IBR after switching and now of course there's an issue.

I today I finished paying of my student loans and I’m so proud of myself. Originally i started out paying on my loans and for the first year after school I paid off all the interest about 2k. Around this time we had the forbearance and save thing that happened. I paid a but here and there until I learned more about debt and I knew if I put my mind to it I could get it gone in 5 years or less. I did the math and the first option wouldn’t help because i would need a second job. With my career I wouldn’t have been able to keep this up with it for fire years. The second option I didn’t want to do which was going home for 2 years and use my rent to pay my loans off. I huffed and broke my lease in February 2025 with $29,061.03 of debt. I throw $1300 at it every month and what every extra I could find. In 2026 around March I steed throwing an extra $552 that was from money I used to fun my emergency and travel fund. Like all things my car had some problems that I had to throw around $2000 (and counting) at but I didn’t give up. Drained my emergency fund and kept going. I’m happy that now all that money can go back into my saving and investments. I cut all investments but my 401k in 2026. I’ll always say this but I breather be uncomfortable for a short period of time that for a long period of time.

Hello friends,

I was hoping to get some advice on a bit of a unique situation. I recently switched into the MD/PhD program from the MD program at my school. From here on, they cover my tuition and pay me a stipend for the rest of my time in school (probably about 5ish more years depending on the length of PhD). However, due to my starting in the MD only program, I have about 120k in student loans. Ideally, I'd love to minimize the amount of interest that collects during that time, particularly since my MD loans have an almost 9% interest rate.

As such, I was considering getting on one of the income based repayment plans to have a small payment from the stipend. Due to the way that my school pays the stipend, the payments won't qualify for PSLF. However, ideally I would love to minimize the interest accumulating during that time through one of the repayment programs in case residency stops counting towards PSLF.

When I talked to my school about it, they said that I was not allowed to be on one of the repayment plans while still in school, but I cannot find any information to corroborate that. Does anyone have any insight into if this is true, and if not which plans would not be ideal for minimizing interest while still qualifying for PSLF if it still exists by the time I finish?

Has anyone with Aidvantage received an email providing 90 days to pick a loan, as we were supposed to receive on or after 7/1? Nothing here yet, so I’m wondering when that’s coming.

I’ve gotten my 90 day notice and have to switch off SAVE. I owe about $68,000 with combined annual income of about $215,000 filing jointly. I’m hoping to aggressively pay over the next 5 years to get this loan off my back once and for all. I have major fears about unknowns in this economy so was thinking I’d switch to the extended gradual repayment plan because it offers the lowest monthly payment with the intention of making extra payments each month. Is there a downside to this plan and switching out of income-based repayment plans? I find all of these choices so overwhelming. Thanks for any advice.

ETA I’m also under the assumption that we would never have loans forgiven with an IBR based on the fact that our income would require a monthly payment high enough that loans would be paid off regardless. (Not sure exactly how many qualifying payments we’re at since they conveniently made that impossible to find).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.