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    24(f) – 220k in Student Debt as a Teacher (63k Sal)

    Looking for advice on how to best approach paying off my student loans while being able to survive and pay month to month bills.

    Federal: 50k

    Private: 170k

    Should I consolidate? Are there any programs that help with income-driven payments? Looking for any and all advice please

    EDIT: I have no family and I’m very aware I didn’t make a smart financial decision, but I had no one to ask at the time and here I am now. Just looking for genuine advice as a stressed out young person :/

    24(f) – 220k in Student Debt as a Teacher (63k Sal)
    byu/Shines828 inStudentLoans



    Posted by Shines828

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    21 Comments

    3. limited_empathy on

      Someone took too many loans. The private loans alone is going to hurt as there are no IDR plans for those.

      Perhaps marry a doctor/lawyer.

    10. waterwicca on

      You can look into PSLF for the federal loans. There is also Teacher Loan Forgiveness.

      But you would not have PSLF or IDR plans for the private loans.

    14. booooooks___ on

      You need to get a second job and start to really pay them off. Do not consolidate. You will lose all your federal loan benefits. Do something about the private one though.

      I cannot image taking out $220k to be a teacher. I’m a teacher and I had about $15k total.

    15. 6fiveblueeyes on

      Please provide the interest rates. You likely qualify for PSLF if you’re working as a teacher in a public school. If that is the case you would not refinance the federal loans and just make the minimum payments until you hit the 120 payments to be forgiven.

      Regarding your private loans, your best strategy is to do a student loan refinance ladder where you refinance for a term like 15 or 20 years, pay more than the minimum required payments and be as aggressive as you can. After a couple years, you refinance again but lower the term to say 7 or 10 years. Each time you are lowering the rate and the principal balance being refinanced is smaller. This site explains the strategy more thoroughly https://www.studentloanplanner.com/student-loan-refinancing-ladder/.

    16. Yung_Zel965 on

      Money can always be made, not to worry. You’re not in a great situation but anything is possible. I would recommend doing some research on your own regarding personal finance. I am just a random guy in the internet.

      A great place to start is looking up Dave Ramsey on YouTube, Dave and his team will give you a great path to eliminating debt and building wealth.

      My advice and the advice that I think Dave and his team would give is to create a budget, the goal with your budget is to track every dollar coming in and every dollar going out. By creating a budget you may be able to see perhaps where your needs and wants are.

      Try to live below your means. Move in with a family member, get some roommates. No vacations, trips, going out to eat. You have to attack this debt with a vengeance as Dave would say and I agree with that.

      Set aside a $1000 emergency fund, cover the basics (shelter, food, car, etc), and the rest goes towards debt. This takes tremendous sacrifice, however this is the path of honor. Perhaps in a few years you can be debt free and all of this will be behind you.

      You mentioned you are a teacher (I am a School Psychologist!), I’m not sure if you work in the summer, but try to find some work in the summer. Also, during the school year try to find opportunities to earn more money (e.g coaching a sport, becoming a club leader). I coach 3 sports in the Fall, Winter, and Spring and that makes be about an additional $12000 a year. Perhaps you can find an opportunity like that as well.

      Best of luck to you! This is certainly not the path of least resistance. I personally don’t count on any form of forgiveness. If it happens, it happens for my personal student loans. But like I said, I don’t count on it nor do I recommend anyone else. If you have any questions feel free to send me a message. Good luck and enjoy your career in education with the kids and the future of our world! You’re doing tremendous work dedicating yourself to our nation’s youth.

    18. Anomaly008 on

      Since when do you need 220k to become a Teacher. That’s appalling. You need to make 100k a year at least. If you have a partner that would be better to help pay this off. It’s going to be a long road unfortunately.

    19. Im_at_work_kk on

      You’re never gonna get out of it with that income due to interest. All you can do is make more, spend less, reduce interest if possible, and throw every last dollar you have at the loan principal.

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