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[quote=Anonymous]I finished law school owing about $170K.  It was overwhelming at first as I was earning a decent salary but not a biglaw salary.  However, I put my fed loans in forbearance for a while to focus on paying off the variable rate private loans, and eventually consolidated the fed loans at a very low rate after watching the underlying Treasury bill rates for several years so I could time the consolidation strategically.

Beyond that, automating the monthly payments helped me not to stress about the debt because it was like I never even earned the money that went straight to loans.  That prevented me from feeling the pain of monthly payments.  I also resisted the urge to pay down school debt as quickly as possible, and instead paid the minimum while maxing out my 401(K), maxing out my IRA contributions, and building an emergency fund.  This is critical.  Even if you can't max out on these things, it is important to save as soon as you have an income, so you can take advantage of the time value of money and not be homeless if you ever become unemployed.

Eventually your income will likely rise and inflation will help make the debt burden cost less in forgone buying power than it does right now.  You will get into the black financially one of these days.  In the meantime, try not to think about it.  You did what you had to do to make a better future for yourself.

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