What's your approach to this bullshit? Has anyone gamed the system and won?
(anyone without student loan debt is welcome to not contribute to this discussion.)
$0
<$20k
$20k-40k
$40k-60k
$60k-80k
80k+
What's your approach to this bullshit? Has anyone gamed the system and won?
(anyone without student loan debt is welcome to not contribute to this discussion.)
I've got just barely under 20k. I was taking the full amount the first couple years but now I've got a great scholarship and a couple internships lined up that will pay well. I'll probably have more than 20k by the time I graduate but I'm counting on getting a decent job so that it hopefully won't take me too long to pay it off.
I pretend it doesn't exist.
I choose the fat juicy steak in the Matrix over dumb ole reality where I gotta eat the same goop(single celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals) every day.
That's my poop stirrin' stick- Don't touch it! You don't know which end is the handle..
My grace period ends tomorrow. I just paid the interest that accumulated during school so it doesn't capitalize (otherwise it'd bump up to 40k). Assuming that I get the job I've been training for, I'm planning to work toward the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. At first this seemed like a perfect way to make minimal payments for 10 years and then it would go away, but apparently you get hit with a high-rate tax on the remainder. Also, it requires *actually being employed* in a public service institution *full time* during the time it requires to make 120 payments, which is harder to make happen than one might expect.
My other plan is to instigate a revolution, after which the current financial situation will be used as nightmare tales to scare children away from capitalism.
I've got approximately $18,000 left. Managed to qualify for payment assistance for about 6 months (after grace period), so the interest was paid and I could forget about it until I made some cash. Once that was up I threw a $7000 lump sum at it and now pay about $300 a month for both the principal and interest. I'm going to increase that to $500 or more, but wanted to wait till I got settled here and stopped spending on large items. I'd like this killed in 2-3 years.
<20k for the moment, but I was stupid about mine. I got more than I needed and then I failed to appreciate the necessity of paying it down when I had a chance. Now I'm about to triple the amount as I go for my third (!) bachelor's degree. My plan is to live as cheaply as possible until I can pay it all off. And then when it's paid off, go back to school for even more debt! At least I have something closer to an actual career plan now.
It would end up somewhere around 20k post-graduation, but I probably won't graduate so it'll be a few thousand less. The system has gamed me.
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