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I hate student loans!! I pay out over $300 each month and it's supposed to keep going for another 10 years....boo!!! I would love to have it all paid off that would be fantastic...but, like you I have a car payment to worry about for 3 years so not much I can do to pay more now...I just bite the bullet and sign each check away each month.
I'm so dreading this... I'm still in school with a year to go, and I know I'll be in the same boat, just paying what's due for the most part. Ugh, why couldn't I have had rich (or even mindful!) parents?!
Aw! That really sucks that he keeps bringing it up!! I get down about my debt too (about 80K), but I try not to let it bother me. It was necessary to get my degree and my job, and without it I would make a fraction of how much I make now. Yes, it sucks that I will be paying it off for the next 25 years... but there isn't really anything I can do about it, so I just don't worry about it.
I think we all hate student loans. I have over 100k on loans. At first when I started paying it off all I did was cry and feel overwhelmed. But I realized I couldn't look at in as such a hovering debt every time I paid it. Unfortunately you just have to accept that it is one of your monthly bills and see if there are any areas you can cut.
I am paying my loans over 30 years. You may have this option since your debt value is over 25k. While you might see this option as though you will never have control of your school loans, you might be better off doing this to lower your monthly payment and as you become more finacially stable you can pay more each month.
If you have a federal loan, they can usually be refinanced. A private school loan is considered unsecured debt and another company will not refinance you debt, however your current loan company may have other options. Try to see if you can change your payment plan or the number of years.
Also, stop feeling guilty. You got this loan so you could better yourself and make more money. Therefore you did nothing wrong. Your FI is marrying you so your debt does become his but you have to try to look at things as a team effort. I felt guilty for so long but then I realized that it wasn't going to go away so we figured out what we would need to cut from a household budget until our financial situation changed.
@Laylabelle- I would STRONGLY suggest making ANY small amount of a payment you can now while still in school. I know it would suck but I wish I had partied less and worked more to start paying my loans while in school!
@Bluebutterfly- You are lucky, I have 18 YEARS left. The only solice is that after 10 years if I continue to work in public service (so 2017, and that is when the program starts) I can get most of the loans forgiven. Yep we are a 501 (c)(3) organization. So if I work here for 7 more years I would qualify.
@Corgitales- I know he's worried because once we are married he thinks of it as his debt but it's still obnoxious since he only has about $3000 left to pay on his student loans, has his vehicles paid in full, his only payment is 1/2 of our house payment. He did a budget for me awhile back to help me get rid of my AMEX card when my interest skyrocked to 28% (YIKES) and I paid it off within 3/4 months after following his budget, however that was only $3000...not $34,000!
Oh yeah, they suck big time! I've been paying since 2006, it's finally starting to go down but I know I'll have it forever.
I don't know what the interest rate on the loans are but is it less than you could get on a regular credit card? If not, you could transfer some to a credit card or a personal loan. Other than that, I don't really have a lot of ideas on how to make the rate lower, except maybe trying to talk to the lender, but I wouldn't extend the loan out any further or it will take even longer to pay down.
Ugh, I hear ya, I hate them too. All together, I pay almost $500 a month just for student loans. Before moving in with FH, my rent for my apartment was only $25 more a month than my student loan payment lol
I remember I got a statement once, from one of them, and it detailed out my payment and how much went to the principal and it was .38!!!! Thirty-eight cents!!! It felt like a huge slap in the face.
I try not to get bummed about it because everyone has student loan debt, and it is what it is. If you didn’t have the debt, you wouldn’t have the education that came from it.
If you have multiple loans, have you tried consolidating them yet?
Thankfully, school in Canada is much, much cheaper, and I didn't have quite as much debt as some of you (around 25k). I spent two years (Mr. Pudding and I were in an LDR) living with my parents and paying it off. I have finished paying it off, but I get down on the fact that I spent two years working my butt off, and have nothing to show for it! I literally do not own a single thing of value - I did have a car, but I sold it when I came to the USA.
Sigh. Student loans suck. You can live your life and spend an eternity paying them off, or put your life on hold to get rid of them and than have little to show for it. Either way, they suck!
@soon2be - I wish I could! :( I actually use them to suppliment my income (horrible, I know), because after my industry failed (home building) and I lost my job, the only job I could find came with a $20k pay cut. I have given up what I can, but the student loans definitely help make up the difference (like buying new tires for my car, paying the medical deductible, etc.). Add to that, I'm trying to pay off debt I had when I made excellent money with far less money now, and it all just generally sucks. :(
I have all my loans consolidated and have since 2007. I refuse to refinance right for longer, because that doesn't solve the problem it makes it worse. On this $34,000 loan I will be paying DOUBLE in interest alone. It's horrible. I don't have credit cards b/c I think they are the devil and only get me in trouble so I'm not getting one of those. The only thing I can think of is keep working at the university and hope in 2017 they are forgiven and pay as much as I can extra each month 
I hate bills. I can't wait until my car is paid off, I will drive it into the ground before I buy another one.
Ugh, student loans are the devil too. X.X I have a semester left and then I don't even know how much I'll have to pay back...which is scary. Is there any way you could contribute more to your payments each month and cut down on the accumulated interest? I'd want to get that load off my back as soon as possible!
@Minutiae- I wish I could pay more. I'm trying to pay off my car loan so I can start paying major extra on the loan but that isn't going to happen for some time. I am going to try to start paying at least $20 extra a month until I can afford more. It may not be much but hopefully it will add up.
Loans are awful, and it TOTALLY sucks that the principal balance takes sooo long to show any changes, since most money goes to paying off the interest. Booo interest!! just hang in there, and definitely try and consolidate them. Also, I don't know what kind of field you work in, but as someone else mentioned, if you work in public service, your loans are forgiven after 25 years or something like that. Seems like a long time, but then you could get by paying the bare minumum and then have them be forgiven!
The school I'm looking at going to is going to cost me 90K for 2 years. Sick. I'll come out making about 80K and I plan on paying all that off within 3 years. Seriously. I plan on putting 30K a year towards it...which knocks my "income" down to about 50K minus taxes....or ya know, less than what I make now, LOL. DH and I will be living off one income for quite awhile, though. I don't even want to think about the day my car craps out.
I hear ya! I've been paying off my loans since 2007 now and I'm just starting to finally make some decent progress. Keep at it girl, and don't let it get you down. You're doing the right things!
Agreed. Student loans are no fun and very frustrating. It was worth it because Mr. Ducky and I loved our college and without them we would have never met. But it's still painful to think of how long we will be paying student loans.
I work in public service and because of a new law or something passed in 2007 after 10 years of public service some of your loans are forgiven. However since it didn't start until 2007 nobody is eligible until 2017. Hoping to get the balance down soon than that! But 2017 is only 7 years away...
Student loans are the bane of my existence right now. UGH!
Hang in there - your education was worth it!
Student loans are seriously the worst. I had the hardest time paying them off because while I might have low interest on them, it's still there. It exists so it's such a hassle. Loans were seriously holding me back from moving on in life because I felt like everything that I made went to paying off student loans. I guess I should've went to a public unversity as opposed to a private school too. Something that helped me though was trying to stay motivated to try to pay off my debt. This article kinda helped me to stay on track. I still have some loans to pay off but at least I'm making progress.
http://www.gobankingrates.com/debt/5-ways-to-stay-motivated-to-pay-off-debt/
I'm dreading the end of this month when my second undergrad and grad school loans come due. My first degree I had a full ride but the second and third I used loans.
The good news is I'm working for the government and hopefully in ten years they can be forgiven in part. Only about 8 1/2 years to go LOL.
I've about 16k right now, and praying to pay it off within the next year and a half, but it's hard to make myself pay more than the minimum payment, what with the wedding being so tempting and all!
I have a frightening amount of student loans and it sucks big time! The intrest rate is a killer. However, I consdolidated some of my loans that I could with Direct Loans and if you're in public service you can pay a rate based on your income and it will be forgiven after 120 payments. I sill have a LOT to pay off.
I have a scary amount of loans too, though not as much as some people. We're planning on using FI's first re-enlistment bonus to pay them of in full ($90k bonus, $45k in loans).
Can you possibly pay some of them on a low interest credit card? That way you will be paying less interest and hopefully paying them off faster if you do the same payment.
true that! i am dreading paying my student loans back. i decided that i'm going to defer them until i pay my credit cards and car off (should take me about 6 months), then that way i will have enough to put over minimum payments on them. because like you said just paying minimum gets you nowhere because of the interest.
At least they come off of your income, maybe they will put you in a lower tax bracket- just trying to see the positive.
Just so everyone knows, the max deduction for student loan interest is $2,500 and it phases out if you make more than $75,000 as a single person or $150,000 for married filing jointly. So you don't really get that much of a tax benefit for the student loans.
Well, I don't completely know what I am talking about- but my financial advisor told me that student loans and mortgages are "good debt" because they come off of your taxable income. She said not to ever over-pay. So, while mine will be $600 a month, or more, I guess I see it as something that builds credit, and lowers our taxable income.
We are both at around 50,000.....we're moving to korea for a year or two (hopefully that will put a small dent in it).....I'm mostly done but he wants to do lawschool. It's a reality I guess you just have to accept but it gets me down for sure!
Blech. I can't believe how much debt I'll be in simply to be in a profession that helps people (im a social worker....I likely wont make much money ever in the future!!!) However I had to keep going past my undergraduate work in order to have a job that pays more than 12$ an hour in this field. Sigh. However I gotta say (and this is in no offense to anyone else) Id rather be in debt over getting an education than to have a wedding that lasts one day! Even though Im in debt I always had a part time job, didnt party hard and took it all very seriously-- the debt was and still is worth it.
You can consolidate...have you talked with your FH about how you will pay this back? If your degree is contributing to your income, then he is indirectly benefitting. My FH and I are maintaining separate checking accounts with a set balance per month and my fiance will use part of this amount to pay for his car and I will use mine to pay for my loans. Maybe your fiance is worried about how you will handle this debt in the future and it might make both of you feel better to have some sort of plan. Best wishes.
@cbee: Yes, it is good to an extent because it is building credit but you need to make sure that you aren't extending your student loans just because of the tax deduction. The deduction isn't that large, if you are in the 25% tax bracket, a deduction of $2,500 reduces your taxable incomy by $625. If you are paying more interest than $2,500 that money is wasted on interest because it can't be deducted.
PS - I did taxes (and I'm a finance geek) so that's how I know all this stuff!
I hate student loans too! I got out of graduate school last year and am $80k in the hole because of it, on top of my existing $5k undergrad loan that started in 2003 at $10k. My FI also has $15k in student loans so altogether we are at $100k.
Compared to my mortgage, I have very little incentive to pay off my student loans because the interest on it is small compared to my mortgage. Luckily, I don't have a car payment or credit card debt, so any extra money (like that ever happens) I put towards paying down my mortgage than my student loans. Besides, it's not like they can foreclose on my brain... 
@baldor1: No they can't foreclose on your brain but student loan debt is nearly impossible to get rid of in bankruptcy. So you will have to pay it eventually.
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I graduated in 2007 so I've been paying since Nov 2007. My student loan amount principle has only gone down $12.00! I pay every month on time and my interest rate will go down 1% after a few more on time payments but still I'm stressed. I'm $34,000 in debt and it NEVER goes down. I don't make enough to put extra money on it each month so I'm just stuck. Anyone else experiencing this? Does anyone know if you can take your loans to another place with lower interest? Is there such a place? Once I get my car paid off I fully intend to put what I am paying on that loan to my student loan but that isn't for a few years
I literally cringe when FI brings it up because I feel like there isn't anything I can do at this point. I've explained to him that it's MY debt and I'm doing what I can but it's not going to magically disappear. He keeps getting on my case and that makes me want to smack him, like he needs to mind his own freaking business. I know he's just trying to help but still it's annoying.
How did you bees get out of student loan debt? Anyone else feel this hopeless and lost? STRESSED!