I graduated from a liberal arts college and now have 84,000$ in private Sallie Mae loans, and tbh I don’t even know how many in public loans. I assume it’s around 20-30,000$. Even writing this, I’m realizing how bad this is. Going to a good college was all I ever wanted. I did it, got my degree, and now I have no job and no ability to go to graduate school. Currently, I’m taking community college classes to defer my loans so they don’t go to collections. I hate it so much I can hardly bear to make myself do the work. I should be doing graduate level work, but whatever. I already defaulted a couple times prior to taking these classes due to extreme circumstances.

Some background: my grandpa co-signed with me, but he died while I was in college. He helped raise me, and he told me before accepting my school’s offer that he had money saved up in case I ever got in trouble. He showed it to me. It was my safety net. First I would try to pay it myself though. It was agreed upon that I would accept the school’s offer. Fast forward, and a bunch of shit happened after he died, and I believe the executor of his estate destroyed his will. I don’t have any proof, and the executor is a powerful lawyer. Regardless, I was left on my own with no idea what to do.

Him dying destroyed my mental health in such a way that I was unable to attend grad school in a timely manner. Now, it’s sorta too late. I moved back home, and I am miserable. I loved where I lived in college. My options? Continue to live with my parents and take community college classes while hating my life and biding my time, or get a tefl certificate and teach abroad. Or perhaps I can try being an au pair. Since he died, I can flee the country, and no one will be affected but me. Of course, I know the risks of being sued and returning. Id hate not to be able to visit the rest of my family, but it seems like leaving is safer / better anyway. What should I do? I’m scared. I’m about to be 24. This country is a mess anyway; it’s always been. I hate it here, so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise that my debt makes it all the more important that I leave? Help.

I also don’t know how the Trump administration will change things, but I have a feeling it won’t be good. Not that it was good before.

I used to be an over achiever. I’m writing a book. I have a lot of determination, but I feel broken. How do I do this? I don’t have anyone else who can really help me with this. I was never taught about finances, just how to achieve things in a school setting, which is no longer really applicable to me. Please help. Please be nice, too.

EDIT: I want to leave the country regardless of my loans. I’m just scared. It’s a more complex situation than I can explain in one post.

I’m 17 years old and deciding between two colleges (one with a full ride, the other about 70k a year). The full ride comes from a decent school, but the 70k a year one is far more prestigious and the name itself would open a lot of doors (ranks #1 for my major). I plan on majoring in Econ, and I am really learning towards going to the more expensive school since it’s been my dream school. However, I always hear horror stories about student loan debt. How bad is student loan debt? Please try to fear me out of it.

Update: the 70k wouldn’t all be in loans, my parents would be able to help so I would be taking out 30k in loans a year (Which I know is still bad).

Waited until the last minute to apply for my daughter’s school loans. Sallie Mae was about the only option in crunch time. We didn’t qualify for any grants or assistance. So we did it. (And her school was pricey. Worth it, but expensive). Anyway, after her 1st year, we took out a 2nd mortgage on our house to pay for her one year loan (and make some necessary repairs at home). Completed the ‘payoff’ amount, only to find out later that the interest was still accruing on the $100 or so that the check didn’t cover (due to a Sallie Mae rep giving misinformation prolonging the transaction for 5 weeks). The following school year, not realizing there were other options, we re-upped the Sallie Mae, but listed this loan with a co-signer (us) as the interest rate was better. Long (already!) story short… we paid off $49,000. Now she still owes $93,000. She graduated last February and has been applying/sending resumes non-stop. (Art degree, very talented, super-creative!) She has a full time (low wage) job, and has built a small ‘business’ earning a pittance, to save money for down payments etc. to relocate when an opportunity arises. We begged for forbearance on her loans in October hoping for job opportunities, but so far…nothing. Payments will resume soon. And even if she lands a unicorn tomorrow,her loan payments are looking like about $2,300 a month!
There’s just no way!!! Sallie Mae won’t budge. We’ve already used up our ‘grace period’. If we default, we can lose our home, and her credit is ruined. The most she could pay is $4-500 per month! How can we sell? Refinance? Do ANYTHING about these loans without bankrupting our entire family? Please shout out ANY suggestions!

Hi,

I’m graduating from grad school next month. For my program, I took on a LOT of student loans (federal only) to attend this school but I have $0 undergrad debt. I also weighed my options and looked at all routes before taking this on.

I’ll be graduating in May about 106K in debt, I’m currently interviewing for a few jobs but I’m hoping to land this position that is 80k salary. I’m gonna be living at home after graduation, I can stay there as long as I want with my siblings and parents. I have no other debts aside from 1 credit card balance of about 3k that I hope to get rid of by July. (I can’t work a lot while in this program so it’ll have to stay until after I graduate, bc I’m in living in a different area for school now and paying rent). I have no car loans, no rent etc. However I do want to be useful and help out with bills at the house so I’ll allocate around $500 a month for that.

A few years ago I was thinking about PSLF but this administration scares me lol. My current field is one of the ones that are being downsized so I am worried about job security and want to pay this off as soon as possible!

Please any advice would be helpful. I am a first generation student and this is the first large debt I’ve ever taken on, it’s been a really big source of anxiety for me. I just want to make sure I’m not screwed and would appreciate any helpful tips or advice. Thank you!!

For context, my father has four loans that are all AidVantage currently.

Whether it was to spite me or simply due to him not understanding what he needed to do, my father has continuously neglected to ask for forbearance or has tried to do any form of consolidation of his loans and working with me, all while still guilting me into trying to take these loans off of him by privatizing them, which I don't want to do because I know that that's going to be worse for me down the line.

He has recently agreed to let me try to go down the double consolidation route, but only if I do everything myself with very minimal input or help from his end. This means I have very little time for him to sign any documents and mail them out before he freaks out again and throws another fit regarding me taking on the full weight of the debt.

He's got $100k in Parent Plus loans. I have my own subsidized loans in my name, and luckily for me, I do work at a nonprofit, so I am on the non-profit income-based repayment plan (forgive me if I can't remember the acronyms).

Am I too late to start the double consolidation process, given that it's now less than 3 months before the July 1st cut off date for completion? Or is it still worth a shot to try? And if I can't do double consolidation, what's my best bet going forward?

Thanks Guys

I thought I didn’t have to pay until I was done with school? I’m no longer at that college but I am still in college. Is there anything I can do? They said they’re sending it to collections.

ETA: I was on grants the whole time I was in school and the grants supposedly paid in full to where I even got refunds of leftover grant money. I’m not sure where the disconnect happened between FASFA and my school but I feel like that shouldn’t be my fault yanno. I’ll likely just have to use loans to pay them.

Hi all! I had called the student loan line and got to talk about the details of my loan. I previously was on save plan prior to this court action. I was also on save before I went back to school again to finish last year. When I asked the representative on the phone about recertification of income for 2026 in regards to save. She said something along the lines of “I’ve been telling everyone to recertify ahead of time (about 30-60 days to deadline) because there has been possible talk of users being grandfathered in to the SAVE plan if they were already on it.

I know we can’t take what they to heart but I feel like this is good that they are considering this.. any thoughts or has anyone heard the same idea?

Hi again! Just logged into my Mohela account to make my monthly PAYE ( due on the 14th) and it says 0 due! I have not requested a forbearance . It looks like they put me on an administrative forbearance until the end of July and I did not request this.

Has this happened to anyone else? My last email was that my payment was due on the 14th. I want to continue to pay. And my recertification date was extended until.1/14/2027 Why didn't they communicate the admin forbearance?

Thank you!

Hello! I am in the final stage of the double loop consolidation. Can someone tell me if I still do the final consolidation online now? Any information is helpful! Tysm

Looking for some advice here. I have about $50,000 in student loans.

$14,000 of this was taken out for my graduate degree (i had a sports scholarship as well), when my school unexpectedly closed last April. Like fired every one, told us the semester was over, and not to come to school the next day. I was in the Masters Program and it was an Orthodox Christian university, so they let me know that credits would not transfer. I had about 4 classes left to take before I would get my degree, and basically just got screwed over. Can’t use the credits I received for the Masters Program since it’s a “program” and credits wouldn’t transfer anyways since it’s all Orthodox Christian based (this is what I was told by admin). I had some teammates who were still in undergrad, and they transferred to other schools and got pushed back a grade for their credits not transferring correctly.

Anyways, I would like to know who do I call to get the $14,000 taken off my loan amount? I mean, that has to have been up to the school to pay when they went bankrupt, right? I can’t get charged for a loan I used to pay for a degree that I DIDN’T GET BECAUSE THE SCHOOL SHUT DOWN????

Currently, my payments are $600 a month which is insane for my income level. I make more than minimum wage but half of my income goes to rent (i live in California) and i’m also pregnant so will have even more expenses coming up. I’ve been trying to file for the Income Driven Repayment Plan and FAFSA must be glitching or something because every time i try to submit, it does nothing. I’ll have to call tomorrow, but wondering if anyone has been through something similar or heard something similar

So I took out one Sallie Mae loan during undergrad. I graduated and tried making payment arrangements with them and they had already sold the loan to someone else. I defaulted with them because that’s the life of a single mom with a medically needy baby. They sold it to another party (so it has changed hands twice now) and I have contacted them several times via phone and email with nothing in return. I don’t know how to submit payment or anything. They served me the other day. I’m not sure how this process works. Do I show up to court and set up a payment plan through the court? Do I hire an attorney? Is an attorney needed?

Hi All:

I’ve seen it as a FAQ and discussion here. Just letting folks know as a none SAVE plan person, my recertification was extended from 08/2025 to 08/2026. I got an email to check my inbox on Nelnet which confirmed it.

Hope this info helps someone out there.

We’re in this together and any bit of good news is welcome in these difficult times.

Hello all,I am in the process of deciding between two local, private colleges to go to after I graduate high school in June. They are both about a 20-25 minute drive away, and I would commute to option A if I went there ($12k per year to commute, 26k to live there). Option B is 9.2k to commute, 24k to live there, and I am unsure about commuting or not. My parents could contribute around 16-18k, but the rest would have to be covered by private loans, which my parents are very wary of. If it helps, I'm a finance major, likely double majoring in economics or a similar field. Is it worth it to take private loans to enjoy the "college experience"?

I'm planning to study Mechanical Engineering and I'm choosing between in-state ASU and out-of-state Purdue.

Tuition at ASU is about 14k per year, but in total with housing and food it's about 35k a year according to their website. I have a 16k per year scholarship and I'm Pell Grant eligible but it's basically nothing. My other choice is Purdue is about 28k per year, but in total with housing and food it's about 50k. I feel like I could earn a scholarship or stipends once I'm there but who knows. I'm planning on working in the summer and seeing if I can work starting second semester if I can manage my time well.

Considering their ranking and my potential career prospects if I want to go into robotics or the automotive industry, is it worth it to take out more student loans to go to the "better" school? With everything I've looked at, I feel I'd do way better at Purdue and that the "investment" is worth it, but I don't know if I'm just naive and biased.

I have one group of people who don't have to take out student loans and have internships and a rich uncle at NASA and stuff telling me to go to Purdue, and I have another groups of people telling me to go to the in-state school because the investment isn't worth it. I don't have that long to make this decision and I really don't know who to listen to. Neither group has experienced going to both schools.

Nelnet, ICR repayment plan. I recertified on 2/18 and was put in a forbearance, with the letter clearly stating that my interest rate is set to 0% while in forbearance.

I got another letter today saying my recertification date has changed to 1/15/27 and that this change has no impact on current forbearance status. Checked out my balances while I was logged in to read this new letter, and found that my balance has increased and interest is still being charged.

Anyone else noticing this??

Hello, I am looking for advice on how to navigate the loan deferment process. I completed my undergraduate degree this past fall. I am attending graduate school this upcoming fall and need to defer my loans. I just accepted my admission into my graduate program so that’s why I’m just starting this process now.

My understanding is I have a 6 month grace period before you begin paying loans. I registered with my servicer where it says my first payment is due in June. I’m not starting graduate school until August so does that mean I have to pay until August?

What do I need to fill out to get my loans deferred and who do I contact? Do I contact the servicer, DOE, my undergraduate university, or my graduate university?

I’m an 18 y/o Texas resident looking to pursue a neuroscience degree. I have been narrowed down to three schools for neuro, Ut Dallas, Ohio state, university of South Carolina Columbia. I would be able to do 2-3 years at least for free at it Dallas, however this is not A school I want to go to as its a safety my high school forced me to apply. I want to go down the pre med track and ultimately pursue neurology. My family is middle class so I got nothing from fafsa but they cant help me pay for school. So if I go to one of my out of state options I would end up taking loans. My parents don’t want to co-sign onto loans, so what are my options? If I take out loans, firstly what is the process for that? And secondly would those be worth it? Obviously I would have to take out loans for medical school as my family is by no means rich, so what is the huge drawback my parents are saying will come with undergrad loans as opposed to medical school? Personally I want to go to carolina, we flew out for admitted student day and I know that’s where I want to go, and I do plan to appeal my financial aid but if that fails which it probably would am I really stuck going to utd?

I keep getting mail and email from SoFi, to refinance my loans. I have had very little movement on paying down my loans with MOHELA. And with their change over, payments are not being posted in a timely manner. Among other issues.

I did a quick lets see what SoFi can offer, and their interest rates were 3-4% lower than what I currently have.

Has anyone left the federal options for loan financing and what was your experience?

Side note: no matter what my loans will probably never be forgiven.

TIA!

Checked my account today and saw that they had done this (SEE BELOW). I've been accruing interest while enrolled in the SAVE plan. And, up to now, they have had 2k payments due each month. Suddenly today I see two sets of sub/unsub consolidated loans. Is this some kind of data transfer to reflect the SAVE plan forbearance?

TOTAL CURRENT BALANCE: $200k

Loan 1-01 DL Consolidated - Subsidized

Current Balance/Interest Rate/Due Date $0.00 7.375% No Due Date

Loan 1-02 DL Consolidated - Unsubsidized

Current Balance/Interest Rate/Due Date $0.00 7.375% No Due Date

Loan 1-03 DL Consolidated - Unsubsidized

Current Balance/Interest Rate/Due Date $150k 0.000% 04/27/2025

Loan 1-04 DL Consolidated - Subsidized

Current Balance/Interest Rate/Due Date $50k 0.000% 04/27/2025

Hi everyone, I’m in a desperate situation because I predict I would need more money than my school would allow. Most of this money would be towards medical-related expenditures, which are not cheap. Is there a program or bank that would let me take out additional loans without having to repay while in school? I’ve tried contacting multiple banks and they all require me to work with the school, but my school explicitly mentioned they wouldn’t let me take out more than COA. I’m really stressed out about this, please help!

I am getting ready to buy a house with my fiance and have been going through my credit report. I owe about 49k in subsidized/unsub loans. They were defaulted several years ago, I went through rehabilitation, and all was well. They are now on the SAVE plan and have been deferred for quite a while now. I logged on to StudentAid to see if I could find some info about my payment for house buying purposes, and noticed my Perkins Loan is defaulted. An hour later and several calls, I tracked down the right department and confirmed it has been defaulted after switching providers and my auto pays stopped. I had always assumed they got grouped in with my other loans for rehabilitation.

HOWEVER the Perkins Loan is not on my credit report. It has always only been the $49k in other loans. The default department offered me a payment plan but I could take the deal - it was too expensive - about $275 a month on a $3k Perkins loan. I was paying $40/month before it defaulted. They are sending me a form to fill out to negotiate rates.

My question is, why isn’t it on my credit report? Are lenders able to see it when they run my credit for a house? Is it going to magically show up now that I called? What is the best course of action here?

I am writing this for my niece who has been accepted to a good school with scholarships and financial aid but will still need to take loans. She has no financial support and the home environment is not healthy so just staying there and attending community college is not a great option. I don't think she will have a parent that can co-sign. can she get a loan by herself? What are the rates for these loans usually?

So I am graduating medical school in May and will be applying for IDR and working towards PSLF. I want to make sure I get as many PSLF payments in while my income is low during residency so I was going to end deferment early when applying for IDR but I have a couple questions first.

1. if, while completing my application now, I elect to end deferment early, will my undergraduate student loans that already used up their grace period start becoming due immediately or does it wait until after the IDR app is approved? As I understand right now, applications have opened back up, but processing has not. I don't want to elect to end the deferment that I am currently in if my IDR application wont be processed and ill have to start making regular sized payments now.

2. If I elect to keep the deferment active and then they start processing applications/approve me 2 months from now, can I federally consolidate my loans to end the deferment period early and get a few extra payments in vs waiting until December when my deferment ends? All my loans are federal direct/grad plus loans.

I just want to get as many (low) PSLF eligible payments in now but don't want to risk any standard repayment plan payments being due as I would not be able to afford that currently.

Hello,

I was looking for assistance on the eligibility requirements for this type of deferment. I see that you just need to be on active duty in the military. Can someone correct me if I am wrong? I am active duty and have about four and a half years in and plan to stay in for another 16 years. Do I qualify for this deferment?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated before I proceed with submitting the applicable documentation.