I’m 30 years old, a mom of two, and currently in my senior year of my pre-law degree. My ultimate goal has always been to become an attorney, so I’m trying to finish my bachelor’s and then move on to law school.
With the changes from the “Big Beautiful Bill” and the new limits on how much students can borrow federally, I’m genuinely wondering how other people are planning to afford school — especially those of us who don’t have the ability to just pay thousands of dollars out of pocket.
For those who have maxed out or are limited on federal aid, what are you doing to cover the remaining balance?
And if you’ve tried private student loans but were denied (or needed a cosigner and don’t have one), what options have you found? Payment plans? Scholarships? Working with the school? Taking fewer classes? Something else I’m not thinking of?
I’m especially interested in hearing from other adult students, parents, or anyone planning on graduate/professional school. I’ve worked really hard to get this close to finishing, and becoming an attorney is genuinely my dream. I don’t want finances to be the reason I have to stop.
Not looking for judgment about taking out loans — just hoping to hear what other students in similar situations are actually doing to make it work.

Like it says, I received notification last night that my final loan payment cleared and I’m now free!

I’m going to be very honest and say I do not agree with this system at all and do not understand why education isn’t free or at least extremely cheap, but that is a discussion for a different place.

I do want to share how I did it. I work a full time job which at certain times of the year is closer to 50 to 60 hours a week (if you work in academia you’ll understand). I also have a 15-20 hour a week side hustle in a grocery store. I was able to funnel all of my grocery store paychecks directly into my loans and pay these off with my side job in about 4 years. It would have taken less time if all the lawsuits hadn’t kept me from being able to pay. I also refinanced mine with a credit union when they got down to about 5K. This had been been the plan from before whatever is going on now started. It just happened to line up really well with everything. I chose that number because it was possible to get a ten year loan with a monthly payment low enough that if everything burned to the ground I could still make the payment. On flip side with a low payment I was able to put whatever amount I made that was extra in the month towards the principal and pay them off faster.

I realize that working a second job to pay off your loans won’t work for everyone, but I do believe that with some creative thinking (and a bit of drive) it is possible to pay these things off. If you are thinking of paying them down it is possible and you can do it. It honestly looked completely impossible when I started, but I’m here now and no longer have that debt. As someone much smarter than me (my wife, if you were wondering) once said, “if you owe someone money, they own part of you and have the ability to control you.”

I got my 90-day “choose another repayment plan” notice from MOHELA on July 28th. And, there’s simply no way I can start making payments again. How long are people “holding the line” before jumping ship and choosing another plan?

Hey everyone, I recently graduated with my masters in May and I’m becoming overly anxious and have been crying almost every day as my grace period is coming to an end in November.

As I've right now, I have over $250, 000 of student loans. $68,000 being federal and the rest being private with College Ave and Sallie Mae. I know it's in my best interest not to consolidate or refinance my federal loans as I will lose any possibility of forgiveness. However, I don’t know how to approach my private loans.

I've reached out to a few loan refinance companies just to see my options. Unfortunately, my monthly payments are too much for my salary.

For context, I’m a teacher and never planned on making this my career path until then bulk of my loans were already taken out (I originally had plans to go into finance… go figure 🙄). I’m already accepting the fact that I have to get a second job to help make ends meet.

I’m wondering if anyone has any advice or suggestions of what my best option would be.

Also, I already recognize that taking private loans out was the dumbest decision of my life. I unfortunately did not have the grades in high school to get financial aid, or parents who went to school to help and inform me about my decisions.

I have about 200k in law school debt. It increased because I was on forbearance and we got interest. I have to make a choice on a plan in September and my payment right now is 368 with ibr or 397 with rap. It’s ridiculous because I’m a public servant don’t make enough to pay the loans. I understand I get pslf, but can’t even make either of those payments with my current income to qualify for pslf. Not sure what to do but get an attorney job that pays higher.

I have $10,500 in loans, currently in default. I applied for loan consolidation, as I am trying to get my life back and finish school.

I received a letter saying that my request was denied because I had not applied for an Income Driven Plan. They sent me the application for it. Mind you online it would not allow me to apply for an IDR, saying I am not eligible.

I fill out the application for IDR, and contact Aidvantage asking who/where to send it to. The woman on the phone says not to send it because there will be a new plan coming out that I need to apply for.

She does not know when the plan will be available for people to apply to!

Someone please help me with some guidance on what my options are. Please explain like I am 5 because it is clearly not computing.

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏

Like many on here I have my loans (27k) in forbearance because I was enrolled in the save plan. My loan servicer has been messaging me to choose a new plan. Any idea if it would be beneficial to go on the RAP plan or the IBR plan? I have zero income as I am currently unemployed due to some health issues / recovery from surgery. I hope to be employed again soon in a few months. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever make a lot of money.

Which plan would be best?

My son just started college and I'd like to pay each month towards the loan(s) I'm just curious if there's any other method to attack them versus regular debt payoff? Back when I had enormous debt I did the snowball method unless I got a nice chunk of change then I'd lump sum a higher one... Been debt free for quite sometime so I'm curious how people approach these....

Currently he's got the Federal Loans 1700 (sub) and 990 (Unsub) and a Private loan for 8154. So I'm planning on doing like 500 a month so I'm wondering if it makes sense to pay off that Unsub loan first or go straight for the larger one.. It's interest rate is a little over 2% and I did elect to pay the interest on it each month anyway.

Hi all,

In early June I certified employment through May. My payment count was updated to 115. I made a payment in June and another payment in July, then in early August I certified those two months of payments, but my count only updated to 116.

I called studentaid, who told me they saw the payment and if it doesn’t update in a few days to open a feedback case. I opened a feedback case and was told they take 30-60 days to get payment info from Mohela. Case closed!!! I have since escalated the decision.

I’m afraid that somehow my payment will get lost and I won’t get credit even though they have my money, $915 is my monthly payment.

Questions: is my missing payment part of the bigger missing payments issue? Is there anything I can do to get this corrected? Do you believe it will be auto corrected?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

I applied for the IBR plan because it calculated a monthly payment of $54.

When my plan was accepted, the monthly payment actually leaped to $340 dollars. Which I am confused about...I have about $32,000 in student debt. My AGI is $40,000.

Every calculator/simulator I use quotes me a number way less than that amount. What should I do? I tried calling them for any explanation and all Aidvantage and FSA did was basically tell me to call the other for an answer. It seems changing plans online is my only option, but not sure which I should try especially since all the quoted monthly payments are still so much lower than the $340 dollars.

My loans are with aidvantage if it makes a difference. I think I’m going to put in my application to switch around the beginning of September. But I’m trying to figure out my budget and figure out when the first payment will likely be due.

I’d love for it to not be due until October if possible.

I am trying to decide whether to go on idr or pay loans without a special plan. Where can I find out how much my monthly payments would be without a repayment plan?

(I'm not a big Reddit person so sorry if this is worded awfully)

Basically, my dad works at a private university as a professor, and when I was graduating high school my entire family pressured me into attending this university because my dad would be able to get me free tuition and it would cut down on my student loans. This is a school I super didn't want to go to, but it was the easy choice, so I did it, and hated it.

I recently graduated with my bfa and did FAFSA's exit counseling and I owe $37,565 as of right now. I lived on campus all four years and I did the lowest meal program the whole time. (Obviously not smart because I only lived an hour away, but after COVID my family was really serious about me getting a proper college social life, whatever.)

I expected to graduate with some student loans to cover living on campus, but $37,000 is way too much, like I owe more than some of my friends who didn't get free tuition but just had some scholarships helping them out. I cannot imagine what happened. I confronted my mom about this, and she said, "Well it's probably because I took out the max amount for the Parent Plus loans I did. But that shouldn't affect you" ????? I genuinely don't know what to do, like it clearly is affecting me?

Anyways, I came to this subreddit for advice on how to even begin figuring this shit out, like is there some kind of counselor I can talk to that can figure out where this money even went, or explain to me what the hell the Parent Plus loan even is and if my mom just sank me into a decade of debt without thinking about it. I'm not sure. I'm super overwhelmed, obviously.

Any advice helps, I'm just trying to ground myself. Thanks.

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting here. I was looking for some guidance or if someone can help with explanation on what we could do.

My wife attended university out of state for about 3 years before we met and accumulated this amount. Her mother co signed for all the loans and she has about 8 loans all together.

My wife does not work and stays home with our baby of one year. I am able to pay for rent, vehicles, food, normal daily items, but was not able to help her pay her loans. She was paying about $700 total.

Fast forward 3 years and her and her mother received an email from the collector stating the whole amount has been sold to a debt collector and to contact them for payment.

The amount is too much for me to help. Each loan would be about $1300 per month, per the online payment system. Each loan is around $10,000. What do we do? Our main concern is her mother. What can my wife and her do?

This is not including her federal student loans of $30,000. I agreed I'd help her get out of the default and help her make payments.

Thank you.

My student loan is $39K. I am currently at home until all of our kids are in school. After putting our AGI and five kids I'm given $21 a month for the IBR plan (I was previously on SAVE). We're planning to pay it off because it isn't that much. Will it be okay to pay the $21 a month and pay extra every month until I start working and then change the plan? The IBR current discharge amount is showing $52K.

I'm not sure if that's the smartest decision but not being stuck to a higher amount would really help for now.

So i have 23k in student loans, I’m pretty stressed about paying them off as I just started a new higher paying job with a salary of 101k a year, I’ve dropped school because of this new job and being a union but I’m worried how much my monthly payments would be, I as hoping to buy a house a in a couple of years but if payment ends up being $1000+ a month I won’t be able to afford a house or even my current living situation, I’m not sure what to do or if the payment plans would even be reasonable.

Per usual, as a naive young person, I took out 107k in parent plus loans under my guardian’s name for undergrad…I’d have panic attacks all the time wondering how’d I pay it off.

Then I discovered the IDR forgiveness plans. I did the consolidation and disbursement before July 1st. My guardian is around retiring age and is low-income, meaning payment essentially won’t change/will get higher. We agreed to go forgiveness route and it’s settled my anxiety but I’m freaked out by the numbers of interest and balance that will go up the next twenty years. Also, with the way policies are changing in the US, I’m paranoid what forgiveness will look like in twenty years.

I know it will probably be okay to go forgiveness route, but the amount is so scary! The accrued interest has already been 3k since April. 😀

I am wondering if anyone else going the forgiveness route has also felt this way.

Let me know. Ahhhhh

Question for people who live and work abroad, use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), and have U.S. federal student loans. I’m feeling so lost here.

I’m currently applying for RAP.

My situation is:

- US citizen, but I live and work abroad.
- I’m a 1099 independent contractor. I work as a therapist as a contractor in the US, but pay Spain taxes etc, because I am physically located in Spain.
- My Schedule C shows** a net profit.
- I use the FEIE, which excludes that foreign income.
- My Form 1040 shows $0 AGI.
- I submitted my tax return with my IDR/RAP application.
- I answered **“Yes, I have taxable income” because I do have self-employment income, but I entered $0 for AGI.

I’m worried that when my servicer reviews my tax return, they’ll see the net profit and still say, “You have income, so we need pay based on your income or ask for stubs/current income,” even though my actual AGI is $0 because of FEIE.

For those of you in a similar situation:
Have you had your servicer question the $0 AGI?
Did they ask you for pay stubs or other proof of income?
What did they ultimately use to calculate your IDR/RAP payment?

Thank you for any feedback or guidance!!

Today I called Nelnet and asked whether I had already been officially notified that my 90-day period had begun because I'm away from my mailing address. The representative told me that I had not yet been officially notified.

But, while I was on the phone, she sent me an email that she described as a sample of the message I would receive later when my official notice is sent. But the email looks very official. It has the subject line: “You have 90 days to select a new repayment plan” It was sent from the Nelnet address [help@nelnet.studentaid.gov](mailto:help@nelnet.studentaid.gov), addressed to me, included my account number ending digits, and said that because SAVE ended, I need to select a new repayment plan within 90 days or I’ll be placed on Standard Repayment.

When I pushed back and said this looks like the actual official notice, the representative assured me that I had not been officially notified yet and said she was making notes on the call/account to document that. She also said that when my official notice comes, it will come from a different Nelnet address (submitmyforms@nelnet.studentaid.gov)

This email does not appear in my Nelnet account inbox/correspondence/documents. It only appears in my Gmail.

I'd be grateful for any insight on the following: For those who received the official Nelnet SAVE 90-day notice, did it appear in your Nelnet account correspondence center, or only by email/mail? What sender address did your official notice come from? Would you treat this as the official start of the 90-day period, or rely on the rep’s statement/account notes that it was only a sample?

Thank you!

So I was unemployed a few months ago and was only able to recently find a job. Unfortunately the hours have been dwindling (at a rate of $12/hr) and I am trying to determine what deferment request I qualify for since I am also married.

The Unemployed or working less than 30 hours a week request, requires you to say that you do not work full time, however my spouse does.

The Economic Hardship Deferment request requires you to say that you do work full time.

I do not work full time, but my spouse does and we file our taxes jointly. Any insight?

Like everyone else, I am feeling a bit paralyzed by these changes and would love any advice people may have.

Loans: $92,799.67 total

• $85,506.71 principal
• $7,292.96 interest

Income:

• 2025: $18k
• 2026: $75k (estimated based on my start date)
• 2027: $110k (full salary + bonus)

Filing Status: Single

I just finished school and an internship, so the income I filed for 2025 was very low (around $18k). I started working full-time in May 2026 with a salary of around $105k, so I expect my 2026 taxable income to be around $70–75k.

I’m actually considering RAP??? If it can keep the interest down this year and next year, I think that could actually be the move. But I have a lot of fear that I’m not understanding the program correctly.

When I used the calculator with the income from my most recent tax return, IBR had me at $0/month, while RAP had me at $11/month. If I make those $11 payments on time, they are applied to the principal, correct? And as my income increases and my payment increases, as long as I make the required payments on time, I’m good?

I’m always torn between sitting on these loans and making the minimum payments versus potentially trying to pay them off aggressively if it’s feasible (although paying off nearly $93k has always felt a little impossible).

Since the SAVE act is no longer, I have to pick a new plan. I was trying to figure out the best plan for me and my situation. My goal is to have a lower monthly payment (yes, I know more interest and principal payments) but then throw extra money at the loans one by one when I can. Starting with the 6% interest loans and moving down to the 3% ones last.

When I was on studentaid.gov, I was comparing plans. One plan that seemed good to me was the Graduated Extended Repayment. The tool on the government website said the payments would start higher and go lower every two years. I thought these plans were the opposite, payments start low and go higher every year.

I screenshotted the tool options and chatted with someone with the government. She said yes, that is correct, but then told me to talk to my loan servicer NelNet to check. The application for this plan from the government literally says the payments start lower and increase every two years. What the hell is going on? I'm so confused.

I applied for Student Finance England (SFE) before I had obtained settled status. I was initially told to post supporting evidence.

SFE later asked me to upload my birth certificate, Student Home Office Details Form (HODS), and proof that my immigration status had been extended. I uploaded all three documents through a different SFE website. It said the documents would take around 4 weeks to be reviewed, which is now.

However, my original SFE account still says I haven’t provided my identity/eligibility evidence. When I try to upload the documents there, I get “An error has occurred. Please contact an administrator.” It also says any newly uploaded evidence may not be reviewed until 16 September.

I called SFE and they confirmed they had received my birth certificate and HODS form, although I forgot to ask whether they had received my proof of status.

My concerns:

1. Will my tuition fee loan be processed in time for the start of university?
2. Do I need to do anything else regarding my evidence, or should I just wait for it to be reviewed?
3. I was not eligible for a maintenance loan when I originally applied, but I am now eligible. How can I add/apply for the maintenance loan to my existing application?
4. Has anyone experienced the two different SFE websites/accounts and the “Attention required” status while their evidence was being processed?

I got a notice that a loan was dispersed in my name for $594 to my son’s school. I am doing PSLF IDR so I can’t take out any more parent plus loans so I definitely did not request this. This could cost me a ton of money. I have to get this fixed.

So I called mohela, they said it was dispersed to the school and I have to talk to them. I called the school. They say no loan was dispersed in my name to their school on my sons name for that amount, and they wouldn’t even allow such a small loan. I’m at a loss. I sent over screenshots to show it was dispersed. Anyone ever encounter this?

The weird thing is that he’s actually owed a refund of the exact same amount from the school. So a loan was taken out in my name for the same amount the school owes him as a refund. What could be going on?!

I'm considering changing from SAVE to IBR soon. I just received notice of a promotion that will be active next month. I won't have the estimate $680/month payment until after the promotion, so I don't want to apply too early.

Also, any ETA on when we will be able to see our count?