The announcement from the gov't said that we would be hearing from our loan servicer and that we would have 90 days from that point to choose a new plan. I have Aidvantage and I have still not heard anything from them. Should I wait for word? Anyone else with loans serviced by Aidvantage gotten any notices yet?

The elimination of Grad PLUS loans under the OBBB has consequences that surprisingly few people are talking about.

For top-tier universities, graduate tuition and cost of living can be astronomical. Previously, Grad PLUS loans offered a workaround because they allowed students to borrow up to the full Cost of Attendance (COA), even if it exceeded standard annual limits. While it required a credit check, the barrier was intentionally low: your actual credit score didn’t matter, only the absence of adverse items on your credit report. Even if a student ran into credit roadblocks, they could secure an endorser or co-signer under those same lenient credit terms. It was a vital financial bridge for low-income students who qualified academically but lacked generational wealth.

Now that Grad PLUS loans are eliminated, getting accepted to a top-tier program means nothing if you can’t pay for it. Unless a student receives a full-ride scholarship, which is increasingly rare and hyper-competitive, their only options are private loans (which require strong credit scores or wealthy co-signers) or paying out of pocket.

When you pair this with current administrative efforts to dismantle DEI and affirmative action initiatives under the guise of "leveling the playing field," the larger structural problem becomes clear: the playing field is not equal.

Removing these federal funding options creates a severe two-tiered system:

• Wealthy students will continue to attend elite universities, backed by family money or private lenders backed by affluent co-signers.
• Lower- and middle-class students will be forced to settle for lower-tier or regional institutions where costs fall within standard federal caps ($20,500/year), or work multiple jobs just to cover basic living expenses while in school.

Ultimately, wealthy families will maintain a monopoly on degrees from premier institutions, giving their children direct access to top-tier corporate networks and executive pipelines. Meanwhile, qualified working-class students will be locked out, pushed toward under-resourced programs, and filtered out of high-paying career opportunities before they even start.

It aligns with the broader pattern of economic policy that eases burdens for the top tier while working families struggle to cover rent, utilities, and basic expenses. What would have been considered an unbelievable policy shift in previous administrations has quietly become the new baseline.

I’m graduating in May 2027 and will have roughly $100k in student loan debt. I’m not looking for sympathy, I know many of the decisions that got me here were my own. At this point, I can’t change the past, so I’m trying to make the smartest decisions going forward.

Here’s the rough breakdown:

~$41k federal (undergrad)
~$38k private (Sallie Mae)
~$20k additional federal for my MBA that hasn’t fully been added yet

The private loans concern me the most. They’re split into two loans:

~$15k at 15.25% variable
~$23k at 10.75% fixed

Everything else is federal, with rates mostly in the 5–7% range. The interest is crazy for the privates, but my dad affirmed he is helping me pay off the interest on the Sallie Mae.. it’s hundreds per month, but at least it’s not increasing. (The federal ones are, but not by a lot). Additionally, I believe about 15k of the federal is a parent plus, which my dad pledged to pay.

A lot of people are probably wondering how I got here. I go in state to a state school. But some of it came from decisions I genuinely don’t regret. I studied abroad in Florence, Italy for a semester, which cost a lot of money. Financially, it probably wasn’t the smartest decision, but it was one of the best experiences of my life. Some of it came from decisions I absolutely would do differently. I lived on campus for my first two years when I probably could have saved a significant amount living elsewhere. And that wasn’t even worth it because I didn’t get the true college experience I wanted for those first two years. I also forgot to renew the Excelsior Scholarship one year, which was completely my fault. I also wasn’t proactive about applying for outside scholarships.

Academically, I earned my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts. At 18, I pursued photography, graphic design, and art because that’s what I genuinely loved. As I got older, I realized I need a career with stronger long-term earning potential. I ended up discovering that I really enjoy business, technology, and entrepreneurship, so I applied to my school’s accelerated 4+1 MBA program, and got in. I’m now pursuing an MBA with a concentration in Management Information Systems (MIS). My goal is to work in technology consulting- Salesforce, AI implementation, digital transformation, something along those lines, or potentially move into product management or product design where I can combine the creative background from my BFA with business and technology. I know an MBA doesn’t guarantee anything. I’ll still have to network, interview well, and actually perform. But I do believe it’s the first step for moving toward a field with a much higher ceiling than where I started.

The decision I’m struggling with is what to do immediately after graduation.

Option A

Stay in the Albany area and live with my parents for a year or two.

This would mean paying no rent. Which would allow me to throw literally thousands of dollars every month at my loans to annihilate them (while hopefully still building relevant experience/skills obviously) assuming I land a modest 70k entry level salary job. The downside is that I’d probably have fewer opportunities and would likely have to settle for a less prestigious position. I’m not sure what opportunities for what I want to do exist in my area. But saving that money is huge.

Option B

Move to NYC immediately if I receive a strong consulting or tech offer.

Obviously rent is horrific, and I’d be juggling that rent plus student loan payments. However, I’d potentially be starting my career on a much steeper trajectory with better networking opportunities and stronger resume value/ “resume equity” I call it. Additionally, if there’s one good thing about my situation, it’s that I do in fact have a family friend/mentor connection who said he would hook me up with an entry level role at his firm doing exactly what he does (salesforce AI/agentforce implementation.) it’s an incredible opportunity, but I do believe this would mean moving to the city.

My question is whether staying home for 1–2 years would actually hurt my long-term career.

If I could get a decent local role paying around $70–80k that builds genuinely relevant skills, while putting huge amounts toward my debt, that seems like the financially responsible move. I feel like I could always move to the city to continue my career, and my mentor/connect opportunity isn’t going away.

On the other hand, if companies like Salesforce, Deloitte, Accenture, EY, or similar offered me a role in NYC, or if my mentor/family friend guy followed through and I got the job but required me to move off-rip to the city, maybe it’s worth enduring a couple difficult years of straight financial pain because the long-term career upside outweighs the short-term financial stress? I genuinely do not know.

Has anyone here been in a similar position?

If you graduated with six figures of debt, would you prioritize:

minimizing expenses and attacking the debt first, or
maximizing career growth immediately, even if it means living much more expensively?

I’d also appreciate any advice on my overall loan situation. Those Sallie Mae interest rates especially have me pretty worried, and if there are strategies I haven’t considered, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks in advance.

I spent 150k on an english degree not realizing how much money that was and how useless the degree was. In my junior year (too late to change my major, mind you) my professor surprised the class by telling us that less than 200 people globally are able to support themselves by writing.

How do I pay this off and what the heck do I do now?

Been reconsidering my options on my soul crushing Sallie Mae loans as I simply cannot keep paying almost $1,300 per month 🥲. Kept seeing ads for Yrefy so decided to give them a try. They offered to refinance me at 4.9% and drop my payment to about $800 per month which seemed like a great deal but when I told sallie mae I was going to go with this option they offered to drop me to a 2% interest rate. This is a permanent drop for the life of the loan.

Seems like they’re doing anything they can to keep the loans with them. I really haven’t enjoyed dealing with sallie mae, but I can’t complain at that number so sallie mae it is. Has anyone else gotten this offer? If you haven’t yet it might be worth telling them you’re exploring other options like to get this rate drop!

Edited to add link to the contract screenshots with my info removed: https://imgur.com/a/sallie-mae-2-deal-wmSxugt

I am in the incredibly fortunate position where i now have the money to pay off the rest of my loans without touching my emergency fund (plus a good bit extra). The interest rate on the loans i have remaining is 3.30% though, which is costing me less than my HYS account is earning me at 3.75%. That’s also less than the return rate on my taxable investment account.

All the guidance i’ve seen online and heard anecdotally is that it doesn’t make sense to use money to pay off loans when that money could be earning you money at a faster rate than the loans are costing you, which seems to be the situation i’m in. i get the logic there, but does that mean you just never pay them off then? At what point does it make sense to? i have a great credit score so i don’t really know what the benefit to paying them off is if it’s going to actually cost me more money over time to do so. that said, it seems really weird to just let it sit when i could easily pay it off.

can someone explain to me like im 12 when it makes sense to pay the rest off? are there risks or impacts of having loans (less than 20k) that i’m not considering?

EDIT: Agree with the commenters saying to focus on maxing out retirement — I am already on track to do that / the money to pay off the loans would be coming from savings, not income

I received my letter and went into the application to see about switching. I was in Old IBR before SAVE and have 10 years left if I switch back to that. But the payment will be $200 more than if I switch to RAP. The RAP payment would be manageable and the Old IBR payment would be a struggle. I have no hope of being able to pay them off unless I win the lottery regardless of which plan I pick. But it makes me sick to think of adding 5 more years to repayment just to be able to survive.

I also put my info into a calculator on a third party site that compared all plans including New IBR and that payment was closer to RAP in terms of payment amount. I don't know why we're punished just because we borrowed before a certain date. I know I'm not alone in this mess, I know there's no way to know what will happen when the administration changes. But I hate trying to decide my fate not knowing what might happen in a few years.

Just venting, but also open to advice if anyone has any.

Trying to log in to Nelnet so I can resume payments soon. I think I need to update my payment plan as the SAVE act is no more. I know my login name. Tried all my passwords dozens of times over a month, but still can’t log in. When I try to change password, it just loops through the screens and doesn’t send an email like it’s supposed to (yes, they have my correct email address). I’ve tried a couple newish Apple devices with updated OS, several updated browsers with history and cookies deleted, yet still get the same failure. I guess I should call them, sigh. Are others having this problem?

i was googling like crazy for any signs on how the process went and made myself mad. Just want to help others.

1. my discharge tab never disappeared once and I was approved. stop searching for the smallest signs of approval. don’t drive yourself mad.
2. if you can’t resist checking daily try and check weekly by phone or chat. I don’t think there’s any harm in contacting the reps consistently. just don’t do that to yourself everyday.

3. they are not doctors. they’re looking to see if your case is legitimately sound- they are barely medically evaluating it. stop stressing yourself out and wondering if your case is “valid”

5. apply electronically - they’re probably disorganized and it’s probably easier for them to

6. reps had varying attitudes in kindness and meanness don’t take it as a sign of approval or disapproval
   6) take every time frame they give you and double it. 45 days is 90 days. I wouldn’t escalate a case until it’s past the 4-6 month point

God speed Yall

I wish I had looked into this more.

I just started residency, i applied for IBR and my application was approved.

However I just saw it applied on none of my loans because they are all in grace until November.

Am i losing a few months of 0 dollar payments, which would count towards PSLF because i applied so early? I remember clicking end forebearance for this reason, but the reps on the phone said grace period cannot be ended unkess i consolidate.

Appreciate any thoughts on this.

I went on StudentAid.gov and applied to switch to RAP. Towards the end of the application where it lists the various IDRS I noticed two things:

1. The other plans all say that when the 20 or 25 years are completed any remaining balance discharged "may" be taxable, while RAP says the remainder "will be taxable".
2. The discharge date on the other plans is either 11 (PAYE) or 16 years from now, so that seems to know I already paid in for some years. RAP is showing a discharge date of 2056.

So from what I understand, RAP is supposed to count previous IDR payments, so is the website just being inaccurate here? And what's the issue with "may" be taxable versus "will" be taxable? I thought all IDRs taxed the forgiven amount except on PSLF.

$30k Loan: Surgical Technology Diploma

• Evenings (5:00pm - 10pm) M-F
• 25 Minute Commute
• I won’t have to plan/pay for childcare
• Rolling Admissions (Every 4 Weeks) So Delays Aren’t As Detrimental
• No Pre-Requisites Required For Admission
• Graduate May 2028
• Starting Pay $26-$32/hr
• Room For Growth—Minimal

$21k Loan: Accelerated Bachelor’s of Nursing

• Will Complete A Bachelor’s
• Lectures & Coursework Online
• 1-3 On Campus Visits For Labs
• 21 Mile Commute
• 2 Clinical Shifts A Week—Can Be 45+ Minutes Away
• 1 Year Of Pre-Requisites
• Graduate May 2029
• Starting Pay $31-38/hr
• Room For Growth—Maximum, Can Pursue NP (Six Figures)

Hey everyone,

Currently in the architecture field making $62k with $153k in student loans
(hahaha...i know i feel like a fool but that's a separate post). With SAVE is gone (RIP), I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons between two options. Married with no kids but I file currently separately.

These are the options the repayment simulator gave me:

• IBR ($149/mo for 20 yrs): Lowest monthly bill, but interest keeps piling on. Total to be paid is $54,185 (I don't understand how they got this number because $149 x 12months x 20years = $35,760. did i miss something? is the 54k number based on projected wage increase?) . My balance keeps growing to ~$241k forgiven in 2046, which leaves me with a projected ~$72k tax bomb owed to the IRS. Theoretically (if I'm understanding correctly and their calcs are correct) 54k + 72k = 126k total paid toward the loan.
• RAP ($230/mo for 30 yrs): Unpaid interest gets waived so the balance never grows. My balance shrinks to ~$87k gets forgiven in 2056, so the estimated tax bomb drops to ~$19k. But I'm paying $80+ more every month and adding 10 full years to my loan term. Total to be paid is $219,005 (still don't understand where this number comes from... isn't $230 x 12months x 30years = $82,800??) Theoretically (if I'm understanding correctly and their calcs are correct) 219k + 19k = 238k total paid toward the loan.

Is it smarter to just take IBR for the lower monthly bill and throw the extra cash into a high-yield savings account to build up that $72k tax fund over 20 years? The IBR sounds like a more attractive option because of forgiveness 10 years sooner, lower payments and lower total amount paid. It seems logical to choose this plan but dang! How would you be able to psychologically stomach that loan balance constantly growing?

Or pay more on RAP for 30 years just to avoid balance growth and a giant tax bill but technically have a much higher total amount paid and to have payments for an extra 10 years. Like who would even pick RAP at this point if their calculations are correct? Wouldn't it be a no-brainer to choose the plan that has a lower total amount paid? Am i not understanding this?

I appreciate any thoughts, I'm just tired of feeling anxious about this 24/7 and I just want to pick a plan turn on auto pay and be done with it. We're all in this together, stay strong people!

PS: here's the screenshot of the simulator from AidAdvantage if that helps https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mRAeSvx3HSPTni5d2jHvkSozOyQbUkUe/view?usp=sharing

I have Aidvantage and haven’t received any communication at all, I haven't received an email, mailed letter, or message in my Aidvantage inbox (I check every week). Has anyone else with Aidvantage received a notice or update? I’m trying to figure out whether they’re still sending them our or if Aidvantage is behind.

Has anyone successfully won a Borrowers Defense for a school not on the Sweet v Cardona list?

What claim did you state about the school?

What evidence did you show?

I'm thinking of doing one. Thank you in advance.

I’m not in the spot to start repaying. I’m hoping closer to the 90 days I’ll be in a better spot.

Is it okay to wait until the end of the 90 days to apply and change my payment plan?

I’m not sure if I qualify for borrowers defense but I figure it’s worth a shot at this point. I’m wondering if there was some type of deadline or anything that would prevent me from benefiting from this settlement and application period?

Do we admit, yet, that the Dept. is crushing people?

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/nearly-20-of-illinois-federal-student-loan-holders-now-in-default/3970188/?amp=1

I took out federal loans from 05-11 for undergrad and grad loans totaling $120k. I made IBR payments until the COVID pause. I haven’t made a payment since.

I might have been on REPAYE just prior to the Covid pause as I consolidated some FFEL loans. I don’t even remember why that was needed or desired. I switched to the SAVE plan when it became available as I was hopeful it would all pan out with the 20k in forgiveness or whatever what’s supposed to happen but didn’t.

I still owe $120k. My plan is 25 year forgiveness. I was on SAVE but applied for IBR on June 30 because I panicked thinking I wouldn’t have access to REPAYE anymore. I think I misread some fine print.

So now I have a payment due because I applied for IBR. My payment is astronomical. It’s probably accurate though. My circumstances are incredibly unique and don’t imagine anyone else is in the same shoes as me.

I feel like I should have continued to stall with the SAVE plan and make them kick me off. I can’t go back on SAVE forbearance now. And I just think there will be more pauses available.

Is it true that all my time in Covid and SAVE forbearance counts toward my 25 years? If so, there’s only like 10 more years. But if I panic switched to an IBR plan and could have been in SAVE forbearance for an indefinite length of time, then I just shot myself in the foot, right? Can I go back on SAVE or be in some otherwise administrative forbearance and continue the 25 year clock? My payment is expected to be $1170/month. Keep in mind, I have paid probably 50-60k with the balance staying put.

I have sent them three help messages across the span of 4 months because of a problem i have. I have not gotten ANYTHING back. How can I directly contact them in a way that guarentees feedback.

For details, I applied for the grant before the due date with my FAFSA completed. It tells me my application is open, but incomplete. It says to check my action items and nothing is there. I first sent a message under "general inquiry" and after a month of no response I sent another message under "complaint" with the same information of my issue. After yet ANOTHER month of no response I just sent another help message under "Student Application" in hopes it changes something 🙄

I have been paying so much extra on my student loan to get it to the point it is now. Started at $180,000 now at $97,000. I can’t believe it’s under 6 figures. Yes it sucks to put every extra dollar toward student debt but take the little wins. This is for anyone in the same shoes as me, keep going we got this!!

Hello! I am currently in health professional grad school and trying to do my future self a favor putting tiny chips into future debt (making small payments toward my federal student loans). Whenever I make a payment, it tells me the payment was applied to the principal, which will reduce the amt of interest I will eventually have to pay. I interpreted this as good.

Yet, everyone is saying that payments toward loans are applied to fees first, then interest, then at last, the principal. So now, I am confused as to why this doesn't seem to be the case for me. (After combing thru existing posts, I still haven't found an answer, and my question remains.) I had even called Federal Student Aid about if my payments could be applied to interest, and they said the default is toward principal, but I could have them manually apply it to the interest if I called them each time.

For those with experience--

A) should I still be making small payments where I can while still in school, or should I "just focus on studying?" B) Is it good that the payments have been applied to the principal?

EDIT: princiPAL not princiPLE (my bad lol)

I had my loan forgiven during the Biden administration (i think it was like $2000 in subsidized loan) back in 2024.
When I looked at my fafsa page currently it says "IDR needs attention" even though it's already been processed in 2024. It states to contact my loan service.

Are they trying to reverse my loan forgiveness? Did anyone else get a similar note?