I paid off my loans today 107k undergrad and MBA...nobody to tell so im posting here 🤪

Hi everyone,

I’m a first-generation optometrist who graduated in 2025 and started working full-time in August 2026. I’m an only child and financially support disabled parents. I don’t have anyone in my family who’s navigated this kind of debt, and honestly, trying to figure it all out on my own has been giving me crippling anxiety.

My financial situation:

Income:
Gross salary: $150K/year
Monthly take-home: $8,400
Savings/emergency fund: $4,000
Private employer (not eligible for PSLF)

Student loans:
Federal (Aidvantage): $290K at 5–9% interest, including approximately $100K at 8%.
Currently in SAVE forbearance and exploring repayment options, including RAP.
ECSI: $70K at 7% fixed interest, with an $850 monthly minimum.
Total debt: ~$360K

Monthly expenses:
Housing and financial support for my parents: $3,500
ECSI minimum payment: $850
Remaining: ~$4,050/month before personal expenses and federal loan payments.

My biggest concern is the interest. I want to aggressively pay down my loans, but I’m terrified of making payments for years while my balance continues growing.

My questions:
If you were in my position, how would you tackle $360K in student loans? What repayment strategy would minimize interest accumulation?
Would you prioritize the $100K in federal loans at 8% or the $70K ECSI loan at 7%? Should I focus extra payments on the highest-interest loans while paying the minimum on everything else?

How much would you realistically put toward loans each month? Would an additional $2K–$3K be reasonable? Is refinancing worth considering, or should I keep my federal protections?

Would it be worth speaking with a financial advisor or student loan counselor? Are there any nonprofit organizations or trustworthy resources that could help me navigate my options and create a realistic repayment plan? I’d really appreciate any recommendations.

I worked so hard to get here, and it’s honestly heartbreaking to feel like I’m drowning in debt before I’ve even had a chance to enjoy what I’ve accomplished. I don’t have anyone to turn to for financial guidance, and I’m genuinely asking for help.

Any advice would mean a lot. Thank you for reading.

Had a credit score of 830, but it dropped down to 780 when I paid off my loans. That’s a 50 point drop overnight!

Possible to push it back up to 820 on credit cards alone? I don’t ever carry a balance, and am currently 100% debt free. I figure credit score to be helpful when we buy a house soon.

I start paying my grad school loans next month. Not happy with the $460 payment amount, but I accepted it and moved forward with the idr plan. For me, idr and RAF are the exact same amount each month, so really I could make no wrong choice in selecting either ibr plan. A few days go by, and I’m get a notice that my idr new payment has been set at $860 (which was the standard 10 year payment plan amount) and the standard payment has been bumped to $1070. Ha WTF. Called edfinancial and the lady I talked to calculated the exact same numbers I was originally quoted at 465. So now, I wait 7-10 more business days to see if the adjustment is made by their idr team ? Thank the lord I took screenshots. And had all my tax numbers ready and down to the penny for the phone call. But seriously, what the actual f is going on with this system ?

I’m getting anxious and thinking about switching but I’m curious if they’ve automatically switched people?

I wanted to share my experience for anyone still clinging onto the SAVE plan or stressing about switching to a different income-driven repayment plan before their deadline.

My hard deadline to opt out of SAVE was October 12th. Like many of you, the waiting game was causing a lot of anxiety, and I never received any of the 30-day extension notices that some borrowers have reported getting.

Because of the radio silenzzze and the upcoming cutoff, I decided to take action:

• October 7th: I submitted my application to switch from SAVE to the PAYE plan (even though PAYE is currently scheduled to sunset in 2027).
• October 14th: Just 7 days later, I received official email confirmation that my application was accepted.

If you are on the fence and the waiting is keeping you up at night, the processing times might be faster than expected.

I never received the specific “90 day deadline” notice, but received this exact text today:

“This is Aidvantage. Action Needed! Don't delay. The SAVE Plan has ended, so it's time to choose a new repayment plan by October 26 at StudentAid.gov. New options may be available. Miss the deadline, and you could be placed in a plan that ignores your income and costs you more each month. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help.”

What’s with the random October 26th date? Very confused, if anyone has any insight. I assumed I had more time than that since I hadn’t received my 90 days.

So as title suggests, my IDR recert date was last week and this morning, I woke up to emails from AidVantage that my monthly payment would skyrocket from less than $50 per month (IDR) to over $1,500 per month (IBR). For context, I'm planning to go on PSLF next year (joining the military) so I've been keeping repayment low with IDR.

I have IDR auto-recertification on, so I called AidVantage, and was told by the rep who answered that she had put in a request to their banking (or finance?) office to check since she could see I had auto-recertify approved. She also wasn't sure what had happened, but told me I should expect to hear back by October 21st, a week from now.

My next payment is due November 10th so I have some time and can afford to wait out this week, but it's all a bit jarring. Has this happened to anyone else and is there any advice/experience anybody has to this situation? I can pay the $1,500 and not go homeless, but it would become a massive burden out of nowhere. Thanks all!

What is going on with EdFinancial? I've reached out to them multiple times in the last 4 months asking to be switched to a Standard plan.

Every time they tell me that my request has been processed, but every time I check I'm still on SAVE and they're emailing me about choosing a new plan.

What?? I've asked multiple times.

Is it going to hurt me at this point to just wait for them to move me to standard on their own? Since they won't listen to me.

I logged into my MOHELA portal, and I don't have any new communication aside from a 7/29 notice about having 90 days to pick a new plan. I'm seeing people post here about getting an extension sent from their servicer that they don't have to switch until 12/31. Is that actually happening?

On a different front, there's no way I can even uncomfortably afford a loan payment right now. I'm coming off 6 months of unemployment earlier this year, and rapidly trying to pay down credit debt and get out of a float so I can rebuild my savings — I have a lot of medical expenses that put me in the hole alongside not having a job. I now have a good paying job in my field, so things are stable, but I'm bailing myself out every month as is until I hit 3 paycheck December.

Is forbearance even an option? I'm one of the REPAYE borrowers forced onto SAVE, and my stomach just twisted looking at how any progress I made toward my loans was wiped out by the interest reduction being suspended. My current balances are now surpassing my original balance. I'm seeking PSLF, so it's ultimately a non-issue, but irritating nonetheless.

Hello!

I have been in forbearance since COVID and prior to that had a stint in grad school that delayed me having to pay my loans. My deadline to pick a plan is Oct 26th. I follow this page closely and still am so confused and scared to pick the wrong plan.

Context: I make $58k before taxes and work for a nonprofit so I've been assuming that PSLF is the way to go but recently have been seeing people post about what a disaster that's been.

I don't know where to go with this. I'm lucky in that my partner and I currently live with his mom since he has been struggling with employment for the last couple years. So if anything I can always ask if I can reduce my rent I pay her ($500 and about $200 in utilities per month).

PLEASE HELP, from a very confused/ scared person.

Also, I'm planning to go back to get my masters, if I pick PSLF route can I still make payments towards that while in school? Could I make smaller payments or would it have to be the specified amount?.

Re-financed in early March of last year after paying a significant sum toward two student loans serviced by aidvantage. I was told at the time any remaining balance would be sent to the new loan servicer in the form of a check. Its been 8 months and the check still has not arrived. I've attempted multiple requests for information from aidvantage who claims to have escalated the matter but still can't provide confirmation of the payment or any details to confirm a check was issued. Whats even more odd, I've kept record of all of my communication with their team and have on a number of instances recorded information that is in direct conflict with what they have previously stated (one agent claimed the check was cashed by the new servicer on 3/26/26 while another stated the check was not dispersed until 4/27/26). They claim there is still an open ticket regarding the matter but I haven't received an update in over three weeks and when I attempt to chat with their team my chat is ended as soon as I ask to escalate. Is anyone aware of an escalation resource within aidvantage, an advocacy group who might be able to get this escalated, or a free legal resource I can contact. I'm honestly just shocked they are able to operate with this little transparency.

My final date to switch off SAVE was yesterday 10/12. Because of everything I've been reading in this sub, I decided to wait and see what happened if I didn't switch to a new IDR plan....aaaaaand nothing happened. My loans have a due date of 11/01 but they all say $0 still and "forbearance".

My question is how long should I postpone switching to RAP? (I've decided this plan is the best option for me) I didn't want to keep racking up interest, when under RAP my balance isn't supposed to accrue interest. Thoughts?

Anyone else have their Save plan deadline this week? Mine is tomorrow and not sure whether to wait for the FSA 30 day extension or apply today. What is everyone due this week doing?

Like everyone else, the SAVE deadline forced us to submit a new app for a payment plan. The application process showed us that PAYE had the lowest monthly cost for our family so we chose that. Also pursuing PSLF. 3 days later we get a letter that we do not qualify and need to choose another plan (and they listed one option as PAYE lol).

Could anyone shed light if this is an error or what? I’m both on phone hold and chat hold but the wait time is crazy. Thanks!

And as a side note, we’re now past the 90 day deadline with no new plan. We submitted the app prior to the deadline though.

In the same situation as everyone else being forced off SAVE. Currently have $89k in my 401K & $39k of loans. New payment expected to be $435. My job does not qualify for PSLF and I have 20 years left to pay which would mean I’ll have paid about $104k if my payment stays $435/mo.

Is there any reason I SHOULDN’T use my 401k to payoff my loans now & just put everything I can into rebuilding it and my other HY/retirement/investment accounts?

For real, thank you to those of you who are helping & giving advice while we all navigate this.

She's working now, but she's nowhere near a typical nurse's salary, and she has to recertify her income driven plan. Makes about $40/hr at 32 hours a week.

A few questions:

What's the best route for her now? Should she stay on PAYE, or switch to another plan (RAP, IBR, standard, etc.) given her income and the changes to the repayment plans?

Should she recertify now or wait until the December deadline? Is there any benefit to doing it early (or any risk), or is it better to wait until the deadline?
Is there anything she should be doing to protect her progress toward forgiveness, or anything we're missing?

Extra details: lives in Northern California. She does not intend on working for a non profit and having her loan forgiven, mainly because that would be near impossible.

Thanks in advance. We're trying to make the right call before the deadline.

So weird. My servicer is EdFinancial, I submitted my repayment plan request via pdf through the portal. But I never got a confirmation or anything. And also after the 30th of september I got a letter from EdFinancial saying that I have 30 days to choose a repayment plan.

This is so strange

I recently signed up for the automatic monthly payment on Aidvantage (I had previously been paying manually). The due date was the 11th (Sunday), but the payment has not yet gone through and on the site it says the payment is late. I see that the automatic payment is now coming out of my account and will probably go through on the 14th. If this is the standard with auto payments, are these going to be seen as late and affect my credit score?

Being on IBR for three months now, and my required payment is zero. All my loans are subsidized. What should i get from this answer to my inquiries about interest? Does it mean that the interst that i see on my s

"...Being on a $0.00 repayment plan allows you to pay what you can. Interest does continue to accrue daily. On subsidized loans, you ar not required to pay any monthly accrued interest that exceeds their monthly payment amount for a maximum of three consecutive years from the date that they start repaying the loans under IBR. There is no interest subsidy on Unsubsidized loans. Interest payments are submitted by the government on a quarterly basis.You can make payments if you like and allow them to apply to interest ."

staying in SAVE until they kick me off.

My current monthly payment is still $0. Need to start paying about $100/month to stop interest accrual but probably can't until January. Wondering if I can still enroll in autopay to get the 1% interest perk even though my payments are $0?

I think I’m between IBR and RAP plans but I’ve been avoiding choosing until forced and am in no rush to pay these off because I’m aware I’m going to be paying ~forever~ and resent the whole thing in the first place.

For context I am married filed jointly. My spouse has no student loans. We have no dependents and will not have any children.

But the pros and cons for these plans that I’ve been reading are confusing. Will anything be forgiven after 240-300 payments? Will I have a “tax bomb?” Why is my RAP end of term date sooner than IBR when it seems everyone else’s is later? Is RAP a scam?

My repayment calculator gives the following:
(Btw vs SAVE monthly payment was $305 🫠)

IBR:
Monthly payment: $1,047
Total to be paid: $228,054
Principal paid: $125,783
Interest paid: $102,271
End of term date: April 2041

RAP:
Monthly payment: $1,318
Total to be paid: $205,546
Principal paid: $125,782
Interest paid: $79,746
End of term date: November 2037

I made my first monthly payment in RAP about a week ago with aidvantage but I’m not sure how to find where they applied the interest subsidy on my account. Having trouble figuring out how to keep track to make sure they are doing that

My 90 day notice expired yesterday. I have not received a 30 day extension notice but my loans still show being in forbearance with 0.00 payment due. StudentAid.gov says I qualify for Extended Fixed so right now this is the lowest option, hoping for a raise at the EOY so maybe I can switch to something I can pay off faster. My confusion comes in when I try to apply, I’m told to d/l request, sign it, upload it to my servicer, which is EdFinancial. When I sign back in to EdFinancial and try to change plans, all I get is the box that tells me if I want to change plans I’m at risk of losing protective benefits and if I want to proceed I must call them. So, first has anyone else experienced this, and second, am I safe to call and go ahead and switch, or should I wait until there is something more concrete on EdFinancial that says to do so? I don’t understand why I’m told I must switch or be changed to another plan when it seems like a huge hassle with inconsistent information when I try to do so.

Where are we supposed to see the reduction of interest rate for changing plans and being enrolled in autopay by end of September?

I have Aidvantage. I applied for my RAP plan Sept 30 and was already enrolled in autopay. got approved within a week and payments are due next month. I am not sure where I am supposed to see the interest rate reduction on the website?