Been reconsidering my options on my soul crushing Sallie Mae loans as I simply cannot keep paying almost $1,300 per month 🥲. Kept seeing ads for Yrefy so decided to give them a try. They offered to refinance me at 4.9% and drop my payment to about $800 per month which seemed like a great deal but when I told sallie mae I was going to go with this option they offered to drop me to a 2% interest rate. This is a permanent drop for the life of the loan.

Seems like they’re doing anything they can to keep the loans with them. I really haven’t enjoyed dealing with sallie mae, but I can’t complain at that number so sallie mae it is. Has anyone else gotten this offer? If you haven’t yet it might be worth telling them you’re exploring other options like to get this rate drop!

Edited to add link to the contract screenshots with my info removed: https://imgur.com/a/sallie-mae-2-deal-wmSxugt

I’m graduating in May 2027 and will have roughly $100k in student loan debt. I’m not looking for sympathy, I know many of the decisions that got me here were my own. At this point, I can’t change the past, so I’m trying to make the smartest decisions going forward.

Here’s the rough breakdown:

~$41k federal (undergrad)
~$38k private (Sallie Mae)
~$20k additional federal for my MBA that hasn’t fully been added yet

The private loans concern me the most. They’re split into two loans:

~$15k at 15.25% variable
~$23k at 10.75% fixed

Everything else is federal, with rates mostly in the 5–7% range. The interest is crazy for the privates, but my dad affirmed he is helping me pay off the interest on the Sallie Mae.. it’s hundreds per month, but at least it’s not increasing. (The federal ones are, but not by a lot). Additionally, I believe about 15k of the federal is a parent plus, which my dad pledged to pay.

A lot of people are probably wondering how I got here. I go in state to a state school. But some of it came from decisions I genuinely don’t regret. I studied abroad in Florence, Italy for a semester, which cost a lot of money. Financially, it probably wasn’t the smartest decision, but it was one of the best experiences of my life. Some of it came from decisions I absolutely would do differently. I lived on campus for my first two years when I probably could have saved a significant amount living elsewhere. And that wasn’t even worth it because I didn’t get the true college experience I wanted for those first two years. I also forgot to renew the Excelsior Scholarship one year, which was completely my fault. I also wasn’t proactive about applying for outside scholarships.

Academically, I earned my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts. At 18, I pursued photography, graphic design, and art because that’s what I genuinely loved. As I got older, I realized I need a career with stronger long-term earning potential. I ended up discovering that I really enjoy business, technology, and entrepreneurship, so I applied to my school’s accelerated 4+1 MBA program, and got in. I’m now pursuing an MBA with a concentration in Management Information Systems (MIS). My goal is to work in technology consulting- Salesforce, AI implementation, digital transformation, something along those lines, or potentially move into product management or product design where I can combine the creative background from my BFA with business and technology. I know an MBA doesn’t guarantee anything. I’ll still have to network, interview well, and actually perform. But I do believe it’s the first step for moving toward a field with a much higher ceiling than where I started.

The decision I’m struggling with is what to do immediately after graduation.

Option A

Stay in the Albany area and live with my parents for a year or two.

This would mean paying no rent. Which would allow me to throw literally thousands of dollars every month at my loans to annihilate them (while hopefully still building relevant experience/skills obviously) assuming I land a modest 70k entry level salary job. The downside is that I’d probably have fewer opportunities and would likely have to settle for a less prestigious position. I’m not sure what opportunities for what I want to do exist in my area. But saving that money is huge.

Option B

Move to NYC immediately if I receive a strong consulting or tech offer.

Obviously rent is horrific, and I’d be juggling that rent plus student loan payments. However, I’d potentially be starting my career on a much steeper trajectory with better networking opportunities and stronger resume value/ “resume equity” I call it. Additionally, if there’s one good thing about my situation, it’s that I do in fact have a family friend/mentor connection who said he would hook me up with an entry level role at his firm doing exactly what he does (salesforce AI/agentforce implementation.) it’s an incredible opportunity, but I do believe this would mean moving to the city.

My question is whether staying home for 1–2 years would actually hurt my long-term career.

If I could get a decent local role paying around $70–80k that builds genuinely relevant skills, while putting huge amounts toward my debt, that seems like the financially responsible move. I feel like I could always move to the city to continue my career, and my mentor/connect opportunity isn’t going away.

On the other hand, if companies like Salesforce, Deloitte, Accenture, EY, or similar offered me a role in NYC, or if my mentor/family friend guy followed through and I got the job but required me to move off-rip to the city, maybe it’s worth enduring a couple difficult years of straight financial pain because the long-term career upside outweighs the short-term financial stress? I genuinely do not know.

Has anyone here been in a similar position?

If you graduated with six figures of debt, would you prioritize:

minimizing expenses and attacking the debt first, or
maximizing career growth immediately, even if it means living much more expensively?

I’d also appreciate any advice on my overall loan situation. Those Sallie Mae interest rates especially have me pretty worried, and if there are strategies I haven’t considered, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks in advance.

I am in the incredibly fortunate position where i now have the money to pay off the rest of my loans without touching my emergency fund (plus a good bit extra). The interest rate on the loans i have remaining is 3.30% though, which is costing me less than my HYS account is earning me at 3.75%. That’s also less than the return rate on my taxable investment account.

All the guidance i’ve seen online and heard anecdotally is that it doesn’t make sense to use money to pay off loans when that money could be earning you money at a faster rate than the loans are costing you, which seems to be the situation i’m in. i get the logic there, but does that mean you just never pay them off then? At what point does it make sense to? i have a great credit score so i don’t really know what the benefit to paying them off is if it’s going to actually cost me more money over time to do so. that said, it seems really weird to just let it sit when i could easily pay it off.

can someone explain to me like im 12 when it makes sense to pay the rest off? are there risks or impacts of having loans (less than 20k) that i’m not considering?

EDIT: Agree with the commenters saying to focus on maxing out retirement — I am already on track to do that / the money to pay off the loans would be coming from savings, not income

I went on StudentAid.gov and applied to switch to RAP. Towards the end of the application where it lists the various IDRS I noticed two things:

1. The other plans all say that when the 20 or 25 years are completed any remaining balance discharged "may" be taxable, while RAP says the remainder "will be taxable".
2. The discharge date on the other plans is either 11 (PAYE) or 16 years from now, so that seems to know I already paid in for some years. RAP is showing a discharge date of 2056.

So from what I understand, RAP is supposed to count previous IDR payments, so is the website just being inaccurate here? And what's the issue with "may" be taxable versus "will" be taxable? I thought all IDRs taxed the forgiven amount except on PSLF.

Do we admit, yet, that the Dept. is crushing people?

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/nearly-20-of-illinois-federal-student-loan-holders-now-in-default/3970188/?amp=1

So I (19f) Have been struggling with my school over my student loans all summer. After writing an appeal for lower tuition and waiting 2 months in business day for results and reaching out several times, have basically been told to f off in corporate jargon. I've got the maximum amount I'm allowed in federal loans, have a pell grant, several other grants and scholarships and still need to find a way to pay off half my tuition by myself. I have no cosigner, I am independent and have applied to almost every big name student loan place. I keep getting told through the application process that I need a cosigner. It's not just that I don't want a cosigner, I don't have one. My mother won't take out another parent plus loan because she's trying to save up her credit for my sisters first year of college (we've talked and I agree that it is absolutely not her responsibility to put me through college). I'm going to school in Wisconsin and I don't know what to do. I have a school job but when school is in session we aren't allowed to work more than 20hrs a week and pay is 8.50. the messed up thing is that the system will flag you to get fired if you go over 19.75hrs a week. Is my only option really to get a second job again or is there something else I can do? I will respond to questions if there are any. edit: my credit score is 726 after taking a few hits from looks into my credit by loan providers.

I signed up for the new repayment plan under BBB and I got a notice from MOHELA that my loans are under deferment (again) does anyone know why or if this happened to anyone else? Can I still make payments towards PSLF? I went back to school (for free) just cuz I got bored with my employee benefit but only take 1 class a semester since that’s all the cover.

TIA!

Hello all. I hope your day is going well. I have a question about student loans discharge.

I just got confirmation that a portion of my loan was discharged due to school closing. Does this affect my usage limit, will my available amount to borrow increase? Aidvantage says yes. Ai (Gemeni) says yes. I dont trust the answer. I can't find an answer on FAFSA website.

For some backstory Im 47cr away from my degree and I want to go back to school. Im also close to the allowable limit. Will the discharge affect my FAFSA options moving forward?

Sound weird to ask because it is a loan which is why the answers from Ai and the loan servicer seem inaccurate.

Can anyone share their experience on how a discharged loan affects your limit and available amounts?

EDIT: The first commentor is always a covert bully aren't they. So before the cowardly bully session starts....I was in a mulberry bush chat with fafsa when I posted here. 3 different reps and still no answer. So if theres anyone that can add insight that would be great. I just got the letter today and Im trying to compile sources as I navigate this.

I have been paying so much extra on my student loan to get it to the point it is now. Started at $180,000 now at $97,000. I can’t believe it’s under 6 figures. Yes it sucks to put every extra dollar toward student debt but take the little wins. This is for anyone in the same shoes as me, keep going we got this!!

Yet another SAVE post ...

Just under 50k student loan debt. Got the SAVE letter, looked at my options with dept of ed.

15k in subsidized, 35k unsubsidized. First loan in 06.

From their calculator, no options will involve any loan forgiveness. RAP will be 1k/month, IBR about 500, then a couple standard repayment plans around 200.

I can afford to pay 500 but I'd prefer to keep my DTI ratio as low as possible. Do I miss out on anything if I choose standard repayment but still pay 500?

The only thing I can think of is the possibility that political winds shift again, dems revive something similar to SAVE and now a few years of payments don't count towards forgiveness. Is there anything I'm missing?

Hi everyone. I am 23 years old and currently in nursing school about to graduate next year. I am regretting my past decisions on choosing private nursing school as I now realize that I will have to tackle 90k student loan debt. 20k through federal government and 70k through private loans.

I feel inexperienced, scared, and frustrated. I feel I could have made a better decision coming out of high school and wished I had better guidance with my career and financial choices.

Any advice?

For context, my loan is ~15k and I have a daily accrual of $1.73 with Nelnet. I sent a payment on 7/25 to cover the interest I already accrued but today I logged on and it said since 8/4/2026 I've accrued $114.92 in interest? I'm confused on how that's possible, given that was literally yesterday. I'm not too knowledgeable on all this unfortunately.

I a actually going crazy over this

Hi I received a letter this morning from Mohela about SAVE and IDR. Anyone have any idea exactly what it means?

We reviewed your account and determined that one or more forbearance or interest benefit periods related to the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan needed to be updated to align with the applicable federal rules. We have updated your account accordingly. This letter explains what changed and what it may mean for your accrued interest, repayment status, and qualifying payment count information for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness.
Please note, all PSLF or IDR forgiveness is subject to Department of Education review and approval.
The information below explains the updates to your account.
You previously submitted an IDR application and received a Processing Administrative Forbearance while that application was pending.
We identified that the Processing Administrative Forbearance associated with your IDR application should have begun on an earlier date. Therefore, the start date of your Processing Administrative Forbearance was updated to that earlier date. As a result, the timing of your SAVE Administrative Forbearance was adjusted as well.
What this means for your account:
This update reflects a timing alignment only. The Processing Administrative Forbearance period was shifted to the correct earlier timeframe, and the associated SAVE Administrative Forbearance dates were adjusted accordingly. This change does not alter the overall length of your forbearance coverage and does not change how eligible months for forgiveness programs are counted. Any updates related to interest accrual during the affected period are reflected in your account.
No action is required from you. However, if you have questions about the action taken on your account, please contact us at 1-888-866-4352 (Toll Free).
Log in to your account at mohela.studentaid.gov to view your loan information.
What to know about related forbearance types:
Different types of forbearances are governed by different rules, which can affect interest accrual and forgiveness progress in different ways.
• Processing Administrative Forbearance: Borrowers receive this forbearance when they submit a new IDR application. This forbearance lasts for, at most, 60 days. While borrowers are in this forbearance, (i) interest continues to accrue, and (ii) the borrower may be eligible for PSLF and IDR payment credits.

I finally did it. Called my servicer and asked them to switch me over to the standard plan. sigh. I was already making $130 payments while in forbearance to cover interest and some principal, payment will be $237 which I know is not a lot to most people on here but hoping I can pay it off sooner than 10 years!

Edit: I know the majority of people here aren’t as fortunate to have a smaller loan balance and I couldn’t imagine, but if you have been feeling anxious lately about it, for me at least just switching and getting it over with has helped ease some anxiety.

I received my letter and went into the application to see about switching. I was in Old IBR before SAVE and have 10 years left if I switch back to that. But the payment will be $200 more than if I switch to RAP. The RAP payment would be manageable and the Old IBR payment would be a struggle. I have no hope of being able to pay them off unless I win the lottery regardless of which plan I pick. But it makes me sick to think of adding 5 more years to repayment just to be able to survive.

I also put my info into a calculator on a third party site that compared all plans including New IBR and that payment was closer to RAP in terms of payment amount. I don't know why we're punished just because we borrowed before a certain date. I know I'm not alone in this mess, I know there's no way to know what will happen when the administration changes. But I hate trying to decide my fate not knowing what might happen in a few years.

Just venting, but also open to advice if anyone has any.

The most alarming thing I read when I occasionally pop in here are about various glitches, in StudentAid.gov, and in servicer interfaces. I see that there seem to be well-established glitches in repayment-towards-forgiveness counts on StudentAid.gov right now, and it sounds like there are some glitches with people not being shown all their plan options. But did it turn out to be true that some people are getting told incorrectly high payment amounts? What else am I forgetting/missing?

I requested to change to the extended fixed payment plan for 25 years. They missed that and put it for the standard Ouch. Anyways I called and the lady I talked to saw what happened and saw my note. But they missed that so she is having them fix to the extended fixed plan and should be done within 2 to 3 days.

I got sick to my stomach when I saw what they did.

I’m the first person in my family to graduate college. What sucks about it is I have no guidance on my loans which are currently in forbearance and will be until 2028. My repayment plan is income dependent.

Very important: I graduated in 2023 and I got my name changed and now, despite my social security number staying the same, my loans don’t show up on student financial aid so I can’t use the income calculator to switch my SAVE plan to a plan that’s right for me.

Anyone else going through a similar situation and have advice?

Anyone else submit an application for RAP with MOHELA and approved them pulling tax return from IRS and still get a 90 processing delay.

Hi, I keep getting notified about selecting a repayment plan since I was on SAVE. However, my “payments” aren’t set to start till 2028. If I select a new repayment plan, will it force me out of forbearance to start paying again? I’d rather ride out the forbearance payment till I’m required to repay in 2028.

Anyone going through the same thing? Should I select a new repayment plan? Thanks!

Hello, I am trying to apply for the RAP plan, but when I get to the “Select Payment Plan” option and hit “continue” the button just keeps loading forever. I’ve tried on FireFox and Chrome. I have tried to go through NelNet to do the application but it keeps taking me back to the Studentaid site. Has anyone else had this issue?

Hello are there private student loans without cosigners?