That is a crazy ton to owe.

We had $280K when we both finished our advance degrees. When we finally found good jobs we lived quite frugally and focused on paying down the debt. We're down out our last $100K which we won't pay off earlier than we have to because it's consolidated at under 3%. We're 9 years out of school. It definite affected what kind of house we bought and it was hanging over our head. Still, for us it was worth every penny and no regrets.

A LOT, but it was worth it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And, we are currently paying only interest because that's all we can afford (this will change after DH makes partner next year). And, my DH didn't graduate until 2006, BUT he was already 30 instead of 25.
. . .

Both of us took out these loans when we were young, and for various reasons neither of us had received a particularly good education in financial matters and didn't really know what we were getting into.

???

Ok, I was younger than he was! I went straight through. He took out the masters degree loans when he was young (22). Then he went to law school so he could pay off the masters degree ... because like a lot of prospective law students he was led to believe that job prospects and salaries were better than they actually turned out to be.

You are so full of excuses. I graduated from law school the same year as your DH and I'm sorry, the writing was on the wall for a long time about the legal field. I went in with my eyes open and am glad I am a lawyer, it's what I always wanted. But it really bugs me when contemporaries act as if they couldn't have known what the deal was and poor them. If you're foolish and make a mistake, own up to it. Don't blame everyone else, your youth, etc.

About $375000 between my dh an I. It will get paid off slowly but surely.

Anonymous wrote:15:01 again. I love all the posts from people who owe $10-20k and thought that was a lot. Yes, $300k+ in student loans is essentially a second mortgage. Actually, it's worse than that. Just paying the interest on our student loans is almost as much as our mortgage payment on a $250k townhouse. Hence why we are in a townhouse instead of a SFH. Once we actually start paying down the principal on all of them, our student loan payments will be about twice our mortgage payment. It's so insanely bad that you just have to let it go. I could drown in my regret, but what would that accomplish? The only way I can make those loans go away is to die, and my kids need me.

Anyway, OP, you are not alone.

Debt is relative. Your 300K being a lot to you doesn't mean someone else's $10K is not a lot to them. I have $16K in student loans but I also make $70K a year so yes that is a huge debt to me.

$120k. Not fun.

Anonymous wrote:

And, we are currently paying only interest because that's all we can afford (this will change after DH makes partner next year). And, my DH didn't graduate until 2006, BUT he was already 30 instead of 25.
. . .

Both of us took out these loans when we were young, and for various reasons neither of us had received a particularly good education in financial matters and didn't really know what we were getting into.

???

Ok, I was younger than he was! I went straight through. He took out the masters degree loans when he was young (22). Then he went to law school so he could pay off the masters degree ... because like a lot of prospective law students he was led to believe that job prospects and salaries were better than they actually turned out to be.

And, we are currently paying only interest because that's all we can afford (this will change after DH makes partner next year). And, my DH didn't graduate until 2006, BUT he was already 30 instead of 25.
. . .

Both of us took out these loans when we were young, and for various reasons neither of us had received a particularly good education in financial matters and didn't really know what we were getting into.

???

15:01 again. I love all the posts from people who owe $10-20k and thought that was a lot. Yes, $300k+ in student loans is essentially a second mortgage. Actually, it's worse than that. Just paying the interest on our student loans is almost as much as our mortgage payment on a $250k townhouse. Hence why we are in a townhouse instead of a SFH. Once we actually start paying down the principal on all of them, our student loan payments will be about twice our mortgage payment. It's so insanely bad that you just have to let it go. I could drown in my regret, but what would that accomplish? The only way I can make those loans go away is to die, and my kids need me.

Anyway, OP, you are not alone.

Anonymous wrote:Have to say I agree with you on the loan forgiveness. I think the tone of your post is obnoxious and I don't see it as a scam, but I think it's a bit ridiculous that all of these people are not going to be paying back their loans.

ah, if the schools (especially law schools) lied to the students using inflated employment and salary statistics, and the law schools keep raising the tuition solely so they can rise in the US News rankings (expenditure per student is one of the biggest criteria), then f em ....

My DH and I owe $300k+ combined. Both lawyers, plus a worthless but expensive masters degree thrown in for good measure (his). And, I am a SAHM. And, we have three kids and will probably have another. And, I hated being a lawyer and will never use my degree again. And, we are currently paying only interest because that's all we can afford (this will change after DH makes partner next year). And, my DH didn't graduate until 2006, BUT he was already 30 instead of 25. So we are way behind the curve on saving for retirement. I have to laugh when I see all those posts about people saving 20% of their income and putting $1000/mo in 529s for their kids. That is just so far outside the realm of possibility for us that it's like a whole other universe.

I try not to worry about it too much. Yes, we made mistakes in our lives. Yes, we will be paying for them for a LONG time. Yes, we will not be able to give our kids the material things, expensive vacations, and full ride educations that other people can. But, we decided not to stop living and enjoying our lives because of our prior mistakes, e.g. we decided to have a family even though by the standards of many people on this board, we "couldn't afford it", and we decided it was worth it to us for our kids to have a parent at home. Eventually the loans will be paid off. We are still very blessed in so many ways. (We do have plenty of life insurance, though, in part because of the student loans, and we are thinking about LTD for my DH as well). If something bad happened to us such that we had to default on our loans, we have wonderful families who would be there for us.

Both of us took out these loans when we were young, and for various reasons neither of us had received a particularly good education in financial matters and didn't really know what we were getting into. And then we got married, compounding the mistake (in a financial sense). Everyone I have ever encountered who mentions law school to me, I try to talk them out of it and really emphasize how the debt is a drag on your future income. At 22, I just had NO idea what real living expenses even were (my parents paid mine during college), much less the cost of raising children.

Anonymous wrote:I have $16,000, I suppose that is not a ton compared to yours but it is a ton to me. Fed Loan though so I'm not too worried about it.

why would you even respond?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:300k here. I have nightmares about it! It is the same amount as our home loan. We hope to pay for it during 10 years and then have it forgiven.

OP here. I have nightmares about it too! Sometimes I can't get to sleep because I feel so stressed about them. We're trying to pay them down, higher interest rate loans first. Neither one of us works for the govt. To answer other PP - one Dr. and one lawyer.

Can you consolidate your loans at a low interest rate?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gee, I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me to hear all of you scamming your way out of repaying your school debts. As a fellow taxpayer, I say thank you. Thank you very much.

This loan forgiveness deal should be canned. I think I'll suggest it to the committee looking to balance the budget. Sounds like it could make a sizable dent.

What does this even mean? If people are using sanctioned loan programs to get debt forgiveness, how is that even scamming?

Signed,

I don't have loans, but I also don't hate on those who do

I don't hate people who have student loans, but I do think they should repay them. That's a very, very large sum of money and I didn't need to take a loan out in that amount to go to school. I got a degree and went to a school I could afford. I also make a good salary and have not relied on the American taxpayer to foot my college tuition.