Hi! I'm a graduating law school student & trying to figure out the smartest repayment strategy for $399k in federal student loans (mostly Grad PLUS at ~8–9%).
I’ll be starting in BigLaw in September at $225k salary w/ 20k bonus salary in NYC (and then increasing yearly / cravath scale), and I think after taxes i'll take home ~$12k/month, for the first year.
I really really want to live alone (rent ~5-6k–I know this is high but I have OCD and its really really important to me), so I'm wondering if anyone thinks it would be okay to do PAYE for the first 1-3 years as my salary gets higher, then trying to pay a lot more later? I also would put every bonus toward loans.
The standard 10 year payment plan says my payment will be ~5k? so it would be doable but really tight to live alone + pay that, but I think possible?
Mainly I'm just wondering if it makes sense to do PAYE temporarily + curious how anyone here in BigLaw or another similar field handled a similar loan balance?
$400k student loan balance
byu/ilovedondraper inStudentLoans
Posted by ilovedondraper
1 Comment
Right now you’re not planning to pslf—I was, then wasn’t, then am so it’s worth not closing the door on that option just in case. I would do paye, ibr or rap vs standard. All 3 have positives and negatives but the biggest pro for you is the payment on any of them would be under $2000/month most likely. RAP for high earners can be painful but you’d have to make above $500k before you’d pay $5000/month and the balance would not grow. I would do that then put the extra $3000/month in an account and let it grow and in 10 years you’ll be able to pay off your loans.
Don’t forget when you certify your income annually it’s based on your 2025 taxes so your first year of payments should be low. Your 2026 taxes income should be lower as you only worked part of the 2026 year. That’s 2 years of lower than expected loan payments and time to save up money. You should absolutely sign up for income driven plan to see the options