UPDATE: 250k private loans with $53k salary

almost three years ago, i made a post in this subreddit asking for advice – my monthly private student loan payments w/ college ave were MINIMUM $4400 (it ballooned this much since i unfortunately tried to pretend these dumb loans didn’t exist and kept deferring and deferring until i no longer was able to).

from april 2023 – september 2023, i paid those $4400 myself (i’d had about $13,000 saved up and was getting biweekly $1400ish paychecks). when my savings were all gone, i reached out to my mother (my co-signer) who then helped pay $1300-1400/month while i covered the rest. she had refinanced her house the year before, so the money from that plus her well paying job in healthcare helped her make these payments (even with her own mortgage payments).

(disclaimer – i was late on payments, A LOT. a few days late for student loans. a few days late on rent. i was waiting for that next paycheck to hit. but i was never late enough where i was penalized or it effected mine or mom’s credit. i opened a credit card at 0% APR which also kept me afloat for 18 months).

in february 2025, i finally landed a new role in my company as a proj manager with a $70,000 salary. this role still qualified for OT, so that combined with a side hustle i accidentally stumbled upon in april 2025 helped enormously. the side hustle was painting and selling to locals around me (advertising online) ranging from $40-$200. this also helped pay my credit card balance that stayed the same for two years. my credit finally made it to 700.

in july 2025 i refinanced with earnest, removing my mother as co-signer and lowering my monthly payment from $4400 to $2600. my new APR was 8.7%, 15 year term, and my loans were FINALLY consolidated. i paid over the minimum, $2800 monthly.

in january 2026 my salary was raised to $80,000. still qualified for OT, so because of the effed up hours i work i feel it’ll be closer to $90,000.

my balance decreased for the first time in three years. don’t get me wrong, it’s still an ungodly amount – i started at $250,000 but now it’s currently at $207,000.

this week i refinanced with earnest again – my monthly payments now at $1800, 5.5% APR, 12 year term. i know i should tackle and still pay $2800 monthly, but i plan on temporarily paying around $2100. my savings are literally at $0 and i’d love to slowly build that again before returning to higher student loan payments. hoping maybe in a decade i can actually buy a condo or something LOL

i genuinely never thought i’d see a light at the end of the tunnel. once again, $200k+ right now IS STILL AN UNGODLY INSANE BALANCE. but thankfully after refinancing there is hope. i understand i’m INCREDIBLY privileged and would not have been able to do this without my mother helping me from 2023 – 2025. so grateful for her and don’t know what i’d do without her generosity.

happy to finally have manageable monthly payments and everything feels less daunting, but i am terribly overworked and tired and anxious all the time about money. i’ve come to terms this will be my life for AT LEAST the next decade (probably). and this is assuming best case scenario besides like winning the lottery lol

for anyone thinking of pulling out student loans for a liberal arts degree: DONT DO IT LITERALLY GO TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE, APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS, TRANSFER TO A STATE SCHOOL! BRUH PRIVATE STUDENT LOANS WILL DESTROY YOUR LIFE PLS DONT DO IT

thank you all for reading. see you in three years for my next update 🙂