I made between 290-350,000 the last three years. This year I am projecting to make 400,000. My salary depends on how hard I want to work. I still made payments during the pause. I have 170,000 left on the student loans. I make a monthly payment of 2500 dollars a month. I am thinking of paying 5,000 a month starting next month. House renovation got on the way. I am practicing dentist.. I spent 60,000 dollars cash on the renovation. Student loan is a fact of life for us dentists

Anonymous wrote:Balance is now $28k. I also paid during the pause.

I pay $270/mo.

HHI - appx. $300K and I'm starting to make moves to completely pay off the debt in the next 4 years.

Same except my HHI is $120k.

It used to be $1017 per month on a $129,000 balance, but it was all forgiven in December 2022 through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]i

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both non-profit attorneys. HHI is $460k.

We had the balance of our loans forgiven last year under the public interest program (PSLF).
He had $40k forgiven, I had $45k forgiven. It has been amazing to get that weight lifted.

I am a huge fan of forgiveness in exchange foe 10 years of non-profit or government work. My DH and I are both life-long public interest lawyers - 15+ years in non-profit or government. We started off earning $50k each in the DOJ Honors program, when we could have gone the Biglaw route (then starting at $125k).

Well deserved! Congrats. There’s a Reddit forum devoted to PSLF. It’s like a sounding of the bell forum when someone shares the day they completed their 10 year service and loan was forgiven. It’s so positive and wholesome. For others, it’s a countdown until their turn. All are kind and genuinely happy to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments.

+1 I also recently got $40k in loans forgiven through PSLF just before the pause ended. Our HHI is $250k. No way I would turn down loan forgiveness. Anyone saying it's wrong for someone to get it had better be turning down tax deductions and credits. GTFOOH.

I am jealous! I had to pay back every red cent of my loans even though I worked in public health since I got out of dental school in 2000 (with the exception of the first 3 years). Why? I wasn’t on an “approved” payment plan. Bastards.

Still happy for you, though!

Thank you! I am jealous of the people who starting work at my office before me who have more generous retirement benefits and those who had babies after me who got paid parental leave. But am also happy for them.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both non-profit attorneys. HHI is $460k.

We had the balance of our loans forgiven last year under the public interest program (PSLF).
He had $40k forgiven, I had $45k forgiven. It has been amazing to get that weight lifted.

I am a huge fan of forgiveness in exchange foe 10 years of non-profit or government work. My DH and I are both life-long public interest lawyers - 15+ years in non-profit or government. We started off earning $50k each in the DOJ Honors program, when we could have gone the Biglaw route (then starting at $125k).

Well deserved! Congrats. There’s a Reddit forum devoted to PSLF. It’s like a sounding of the bell forum when someone shares the day they completed their 10 year service and loan was forgiven. It’s so positive and wholesome. For others, it’s a countdown until their turn. All are kind and genuinely happy to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments.

+1 I also recently got $40k in loans forgiven through PSLF just before the pause ended. Our HHI is $250k. No way I would turn down loan forgiveness. Anyone saying it's wrong for someone to get it had better be turning down tax deductions and credits. GTFOOH.

I am jealous! I had to pay back every red cent of my loans even though I worked in public health since I got out of dental school in 2000 (with the exception of the first 3 years). Why? I wasn’t on an “approved” payment plan. Bastards.

Still happy for you, though!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both non-profit attorneys. HHI is $460k.

We had the balance of our loans forgiven last year under the public interest program (PSLF).
He had $40k forgiven, I had $45k forgiven. It has been amazing to get that weight lifted.

I am a huge fan of forgiveness in exchange foe 10 years of non-profit or government work. My DH and I are both life-long public interest lawyers - 15+ years in non-profit or government. We started off earning $50k each in the DOJ Honors program, when we could have gone the Biglaw route (then starting at $125k).

Well deserved! Congrats. There’s a Reddit forum devoted to PSLF. It’s like a sounding of the bell forum when someone shares the day they completed their 10 year service and loan was forgiven. It’s so positive and wholesome. For others, it’s a countdown until their turn. All are kind and genuinely happy to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments.

+1 I also recently got $40k in loans forgiven through PSLF just before the pause ended. Our HHI is $250k. No way I would turn down loan forgiveness. Anyone saying it's wrong for someone to get it had better be turning down tax deductions and credits. GTFOOH.

Anonymous wrote:The “you knew you were borrowing, you pay it off” argument ignores the fact that many of these loans are usurious and predatory and many people have paid the principal and then some and still have high balances.

Granted, some of this is due to the income-based repayment calculations and deferral. And lenders certainly are entitled to earn a return on the money they lend. But at some point the terms are truly horrific and impossible for an 18 yo to understand.

Less sympathy for loans taken for graduate schools leading to professional careers.

You've got the talking points down - but can you back them up?

How are they usurious? What are the interest rates? What are the relevant usury laws?

How are they predatory? How are they impossible for an 18 yo to understand? Are there other contracts 18 yos should not be able to enter into? Are you advocating raising the age of minority?

$560 a month. About $44k left on what was $120k from law school. No rush to pay it off seeing as I refinanced at 4% and can make more than that in a freakin CD right now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

At your income level, that's really gross you are getting loan forgiveness. That's not exactly a real non-profit salary.

LOL has anyone told you about doctors and loan forgiveness?? If you think this is gross…

Please, do tell. I'm fairly sure most docs working full time would not qualify for loan forgiveness.

Would it have the unintended consequence of encouraging more docs to work less hours to lower their salaries and qualify for forgiveness?? Not sure. That sounds like additional disaster zone for the medical system...

Why would you think that? I really wish people who know nothing about PSLF would stop blowing smoke about it.

If they are employed by government or 501c3 nonprofits, they're eligible. That's a lot of them. And that--not working fewer hours--is what PSLF incentivizes. We need more of that happening. So: incentivizing it is a good thing.

For doctors too, most of their residency is done in academic hospitals so will automatically get a chunk of the 10years (eg general surgery has 5 years of residency plus 2 years of research plus 2 years of fellowship all typically done at a qualifying hospital). Then they do one-few years as an attending at the same type of hospital (most state flagships) and have everything forgiven despite - at the time of forgiveness- making mid 6 figure annual salaries.

I was the original PP who mentioned doctors and did it bc I think they’re a good example where PSLF doesn’t really consider the HHI at the time of forgiveness. (That doesn’t particularly offend me, but offended the PP I was responding to.)

That is generally correct.

PSLF incentivizes public service. Except to the extent that it relies on income-driven repayment plans to give it financial value to the people who get it, it is not means-tested. And the reason for that is that there was bipartisan agreement *during the George W. Bush administration* that the nation's policy should incentivize public service, and that doing that was even more valuable than finding a way to pauperize people who devote many years of life to education towards careers we all rely on. They were right.

$666 I’m serious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

At your income level, that's really gross you are getting loan forgiveness. That's not exactly a real non-profit salary.

LOL has anyone told you about doctors and loan forgiveness?? If you think this is gross…

Please, do tell. I'm fairly sure most docs working full time would not qualify for loan forgiveness.

Would it have the unintended consequence of encouraging more docs to work less hours to lower their salaries and qualify for forgiveness?? Not sure. That sounds like additional disaster zone for the medical system...

Why would you think that? I really wish people who know nothing about PSLF would stop blowing smoke about it.

If they are employed by government or 501c3 nonprofits, they're eligible. That's a lot of them. And that--not working fewer hours--is what PSLF incentivizes. We need more of that happening. So: incentivizing it is a good thing.

For doctors too, most of their residency is done in academic hospitals so will automatically get a chunk of the 10years (eg general surgery has 5 years of residency plus 2 years of research plus 2 years of fellowship all typically done at a qualifying hospital). Then they do one-few years as an attending at the same type of hospital (most state flagships) and have everything forgiven despite - at the time of forgiveness- making mid 6 figure annual salaries.

I was the original PP who mentioned doctors and did it bc I think they’re a good example where PSLF doesn’t really consider the HHI at the time of forgiveness. (That doesn’t particularly offend me, but offended the PP I was responding to.)

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both non-profit attorneys. HHI is $460k.

We had the balance of our loans forgiven last year under the public interest program (PSLF).
He had $40k forgiven, I had $45k forgiven. It has been amazing to get that weight lifted.

I am a huge fan of forgiveness in exchange foe 10 years of non-profit or government work. My DH and I are both life-long public interest lawyers - 15+ years in non-profit or government. We started off earning $50k each in the DOJ Honors program, when we could have gone the Biglaw route (then starting at $125k).

Well deserved! Congrats. There’s a Reddit forum devoted to PSLF. It’s like a sounding of the bell forum when someone shares the day they completed their 10 year service and loan was forgiven. It’s so positive and wholesome. For others, it’s a countdown until their turn. All are kind and genuinely happy to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

At your income level, that's really gross you are getting loan forgiveness. That's not exactly a real non-profit salary.

LOL has anyone told you about doctors and loan forgiveness?? If you think this is gross…

Please, do tell. I'm fairly sure most docs working full time would not qualify for loan forgiveness.

Would it have the unintended consequence of encouraging more docs to work less hours to lower their salaries and qualify for forgiveness?? Not sure. That sounds like additional disaster zone for the medical system...

Why would you think that? I really wish people who know nothing about PSLF would stop blowing smoke about it.

If they are employed by government or 501c3 nonprofits, they're eligible. That's a lot of them. And that--not working fewer hours--is what PSLF incentivizes. We need more of that happening. So: incentivizing it is a good thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI 400k. I’m a teacher and my loan balance (78k) was forgiven during the pause. (I also had a 100k private loan balance that I paid off before we got married.) We paid off my husband’s loans the last day of the pause (62k). He left government after 9 years, so we paid the loans instead of doing forgiveness for him. The salary difference was substantial enough that it made sense.

So, $0. But a long road to get here.

Why in the world would you take on that much debt to be a teacher?

PP here—It was definitely a bad decision!! I was the first in my family to go to college and really had no idea what I was doing. Then, like a lot of people, the balance ballooned when I was on an income based plan early in my career.

To the PP who suggested I could pay it back on my HHI, you are right! But that’s not how the program worked. Just like I wouldn’t willingly pay a higher tax rate than I have to or turn down other government benefits.