Hello! I’m a first generation college student so my parents and I are new to everything college.

Is it possible to get a loan to cover housing only? I have parent who will pay my tuition but say I’m on my own for housing. By the time I graduat, I will have roughly 11,000 saved up for housing but I’m not sure it will entirely cover. I’d use my loan to pay for housing then make an 11,000 payment.

Ok so right now I'm still in forbearance under the SAVE plan and I know the 90 day window has started to change plans. I'm assuming if I just wait then it will automatically move me to this new tiered standard plan. And right now my balance is $50,500. So that would put me in the 20 year plan right? Would I be better off making sure I'm under $50,000 so it puts me in the 15 year tier? I guess ultimately I can always pay it off faster if I want, just wondering if anyone knows if there's a set date where they "lock in" the tier each person is placed into.

Hey everyone, I am a recent graduate with $318k in student loan debt and my average interest rate is 7.8%. I am currently on the IBR plan and just started paying last month. I am considering switching to the RAP plan instead to reduce the interest growth. However, my long term plan is to go for the forgiveness route. I was curious what other people are doing in similar situations. Also is the forgiveness actually happening for people after the 20 year period. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Would appreciate any experience/help/advice anyone has for my situation.

Yesterday morning I paid off my Nelnet loans in full on their website. I followed their instructions after talking to an agent and paid with a checking account on a non weekend/holiday weekday and before 4pm eastern time. After paying I have received no confirmation email or message in my Nelnet inbox and there is no record of payment activity on my account even though the payment went through and I saw a confirmation page.

I talked to a Nelnet agent this morning and they said there was no pending payment or record on their end and to check with the bank. I checked with the bank and they said they had no record either of money being taken out of the account. They said to wait a day to see if Nelnet requests payment in the meantime but I'm worried that if the agent I talked to is saying there is nothing on Nelnet's end that waiting will do nothing.

Does anyone have experience with this? If anyone on here has worked with a financial aid provider do payments just vanish like that? Obviously I want to get this debt settled before more interest accrues but I don't want to make a double payment. Thank you for any help!

Hello,

I recently qualified for my Federal student loans to be discharged. I know some have had luck getting their private student loans discharged due to their borrowers defense case being approved, even though borrowers defense is only for federal student loans. I wanted to see if anyone has been successful in getting their private student loans discharged through FirstMark Services? Originally my loan was through Wells Fargo, but then were bought out by Firstmark services. Any input is appreciated!! TYIA!!

Hello. I need to rant. I cry almost everyday because this shit is so frustrating, then I remember this is exactly what the republican administration wants. Us to fail. I recently have been admitted to a graduate program. Started summer classes so I could qualify for the program before the (big beautiful bill) BBB. Unfortunately I had loans that needed to be consolidated. I went through all the necessary steps called student aid EVERY DAY FOR WEEKS up till the July 1 date. Sent my application for a repayment plan. 5 days before July 1. Mind you this stupid ass company only take fax, as the “fastest method” like wtf in my opinion to slow down the process. They said the application been cancelled due to the BBB even tho I made it prior to that date. AND NO ONE felt the need to tell me that the 15 times I called before, just letting me waste my time. Now because they were slow to consolidate my loans I have limited funds for my graduate degree and will probably have to take out private loans. MIND YOUUUU the lady in the phone said I would qualify for the previous loan plan and unlimited student aid because I put in my application before July 1. Now they said I have to wait for a new repayment plan application that hasn’t been completed by the government yet. And said to keep a close eye on the fasfa website. This is all bull shit. I’m truly sick and tired of the this trash administration. I just want to work and make money like everyone else but being 25 in the apocalypse is HELL. TRULY HELL. Fascism at its finest

In May, I made a payment on my student loans on Mohela. I had not been making consistent payments. The agent on the call told me if I made a payment by July 1st, then I would not be sent to default.

Flash forward to today, I received a notice that I was sent to default and now need to pay my loans through default resolution group. It looks like they are charging me *exponentially* more interest. They are also threatening wage garnishment and other financial penalties.

Is there any way I can get my loans back to Mohela and on a regular payment plan? Has anyone been through this situation? I'm beside myself and would appreciate any insight!

Hello!

My wife is an employee at a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and with SAVE going away we are trying to navigate the best way for her to move her loans (she just got the notice today that she needs to move her loans). I am not very well versed on student loans, especially federal. I have mine through AES, I should change that and refinance eventually but that could be another post lol.

She has about 10 small loans that make up $45,235. She can qualify for PSLF when she starts her repayment. Right now I see her options are all for 10 year loans, and with the income based payment calculator her best options right now are New IBR, Old IBR, Standard, and Refinanced Standard for around $455-$470 a month. This would be on top of some private student loans she has which are currently $369 a month. We really want to try and lower the monthly payment but also do not want to lose the possibility of her loan forgiveness.

I may be wrong in my thinking, but with any of the plans mentioned above, she'll pay it off in 10 years, which would make her loan forgiveness not matter. To me, it would seem it would be a better idea to refinance with a Direct Consolidation Loan and keep her PSLF status, go to a 15 or 30 year loan to lower the payment, and get forgiven in 10 years/120 payments.

Can someone please correct me on this or give me some insight to how that works or doesn't work? Also if there is a better way to go about lowering the monthly and keeping her forgiveness status please explain it. There is a ton of information online and I cannot tell which is correct or what avenue is the best to go down to make this work.

Thank you very much for any help you can provide!

EDITED: I have unconsolidated parent plus loans (44k) on a standard repayment plan that my dad took out with the agreement that I would pay it back when I’m done school. Obviously, I was young and did not have the financial literacy at the time and looking back I regret it but nothing I can do now. PPL do not have the same repayment plan options as other public loans which makes it very difficult. My dad is retired now, is there anyway I can update his income to help reduce my monthly payments? I have other student loans (30k) on the SAVE plan that are in my name but I have not paid them back since so Covid.

Since I will have to pay both soon, the PPL and the ones in my name, my monthly payments will be around 1k a month which I cannot afford. i am not sure what my options are here for the PPL, curious if anyone has found the best way to reduce it?

I have Nelnet as my servicer for my student loans. I have loans from my undergraduate studies as far back as 2022, as well as loans from my graduate studies with the last one taken in fall of 2025.
I applied in April for the income driven repayment plan because I saw that my grace period was coming to an end, but only some of my loans were approved because others were still in in their grace period. I contacted my servicer about this, but got no response. After exploring their website in the federal aid website, I saw that the best approach was to end my grace period early and consolidate the remaining loans in order to qualify for the IDR plan before July 1, 2026. I submitted the request on July 16, but it was not approved until July 10. On July 29th, they responded to my question basically saying my loans are in administrative forbearance until the decision is made.
I have now been denied the IDR plan because my loan apparently originates now in July instead of the dates when I actually took the loans out.
Is there any way to appeal this decision? I figure they would want to have some money from me rather than no money from me because I cannot afford the payments I would have to make on RAP or standard.

TLDR; Applied for Nelnet loan consolidation and IDR in June, loans consolidated in July, IRD denied. Help?

My wife is looking to switch into nursing in the near future, and it looks like these are our 2 main options:

1. Private Accelerated Bachelors in Nursing (ABSN) ~$80K: 16 month ABSN with totals costs of $80K all in (tuition, program fees, textbooks, exam prep, etc.) for the program. This program is significantly easier to get into compared to the ADNs in option 2, and has a NCLEX (nursing certification exam) pass rate of ~90%

2. Various Public Associate Degrees in Nursing (ADN) ~$20K: Various public in-state ADN programs; each are relatively similar 24 month programs with total costs of about $20K all in (covers everything similar to the above). These programs are more competitive to get into, and have NCLEX pass rates between 80% - 90%.

Some relevant facts about our financial situation:

1. Both late 20s / early 30s, no kids and renting, but want to buy a house and have kids in the future (4 - 6 years)
2. I make ~$200K a year, wife is currently finishing nursing pre-reqs and is a full time student
3. Spend $7-8K a month in a HCOL, we have ~2K excess cash month after investing $2.8K a month (maxing 2 Roth IRAs, Family HSA, and putting 6% into 401K to get employer match)
4. Net worth of $174K

240K Assets: (211K Invested, $29K value of car, $15K cash)

$80K Debts ($51K federal student loans avg. rate of 3%, $29K car loan 1% rate)

5) Both have credit scores >770 which seem to qualify us for private loans with rates between 4-6%

We are currently saving the $2K excess cash each month, and I expect that we will be able to mostly cash flow an ADN program, but not the Private ABSN program. My wife is still in the process of applying, however there is a solid chance that she gets into both the private ABSN as well as one of the public ADN's.

Assuming that she gets into both, are we crazy for considering the Private ABSN given the $60K sticker difference? Our rationale is the following:

1. $50K made up by finishing faster: Starting wages in nursing are $40-$50 an hour in our HCOL west coast city, assuming she can begin working 8 months earlier under the ABSN, she would earn ~50K after tax during these 8 months:

($45/hour x 1560 working hour in 8 months = $70,200 x 0.7 (1.0 - assumed 30% tax rate) = $49,140)

2) No need for ADN - BSN bridge: In the future my wife would like to get a Bachelors in nursing, going straight to an ABSN would remove the need for her to do an ADN - Bachelors bridge program, saving potential future time and money (although I have heard that employers often sponsor this, so the money factor may be greatly diminished)

3) Possible student loan employer assistance: Multiple employers in the area have advertised student loan assistance programs based on working for them for 2 years. My understanding is that most of these settings are in generally less desirable med-surge positions, and she would like to maintain career flexibility, therefore it is definitely not a guarantee we will receive any employer assistance.

4) She has a desire to be done with school as soon as possible: Getting done with school 8 months earlier and moving on to a new life stage would be preferable

If you made is this far thanks so much for reading my ramblings, would appreciate any advice and happy to provide other relevant info if requested.

Can someone please help me weigh the pros and cons of being on my current IBR plan vs. RAP? I feel like RAP is too good to be true lol

Loan balance: $141,000
Income: $85,000

Hello,

I got an email for recertification for my IDR. After going in the payment options for new IDR are only about $5 cheaper than my standard payment plan will be . It is about $100 more than what I pay now a month. Either way it will not impact me that much, but I am wondering if there is a benefit to keeping the IDR plan going? Any advice is appreciated, if keeping the IDR plan makes sense for some benefit maybe I’m not aware of I’m happy to do so. Appreciate all insight.

Current IDR payments $252 a month
New standard payment $360 a month
New IDR payment $355 a month

Total amount still owed $29k

Hello, seeking advice for what my best option would be. I tried using Gemini but I don't think it was grasping my situation, probably my fault.

Basic Info:

Single, no dependents, AGI likely around $90k for this year & 105k next year.

Loan Info:

10 loans totaling $70k (fed subsidized & unsubsidized thru MOHELA) avg. interest 5.25%. Two years of PSLF qualifying payments certified. All loans taken out between 2015 - 2020.

I believe under RAP & IBR, my payment if aiming for PSLF is going to be around $600/month which is painful for me. But, my employer (federal agency) is entering into an agreement with me to pay $10k/year in biweekly payments, over six years, totaling $60k (SLRP). I outlined where the money should go so they are paying the highest interest + balance loans first. I don't believe I'll see a change to my monthly payment until my loan balance starts to go down, does anyone know how that shakes out/rebalances my monthly payment? I'm unsure, since the total loan balance will go down by about twice as much as originally estimated.

I know I'll likely not end up needing PSLF thanks to my employer's student loan repayment program, and will end up paying far less overall than if I didn't have that additional help. I'm super grateful and privileged to have this help, and I acknowledge that. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything as far as my repayment plan/options.

Thank you.

I just received a letter from nelnet that my PAYE recertification is due end of August, however I am currently unemployed. What is the best course of action to take when recertifying?

Still show that I am in forbearance with Aidvantage and haven’t gotten the dreaded July 1st email still. Anyone else holding with me until we get a concrete deadline for the new payment plan update?

I’m wondering what tips, advice, or any information about the loan forgiveness programs available. I think I may qualify as an employee of a public school district but not sure where to start.

The site where you can check to see if an employer is eligible for student loan forgiveness has been down for a couple weeks now. Any insight as to why? Is this related to the current administration?

One half of my loans has 4.5% interest, the other half has 2.7%. Obviously my situation is nowhere near as bad as many others on this sub, but I haven't really had to pay anything since graduating all the way back in 2021 and I'm a bit paralyzed over the amount of existing replacement plans. I quit education back in 2024 and would rather not go back into the field, so forgiveness isn't exactly an option for me as I'm between jobs. I do a bunch of subbing in the school year & contract work outside of that, so my income isn't really that great and I'm more interested in paying off my car before touching my student loans fully.

More importantly, I'm getting married next April and she herself doesn't have a true salary job, but a larger set of loans around roughly $20k-30k (currently in grad school), so I'm also wanting to prep for the long-term future.

If I have federal loans from grad school on IBR and I take out a parent plus loan, my understanding is that I would then be disqualified from IBR

But I’m curious, as long as I keep my non parent plus loans separate…. Can’t they move to RAP?

I know the PP loan wouldn’t be eligible for anything other than the Tiered Standard Plan.

Thanks! 🙏🏼

Hello all, I am sorry but I am unsure what to do in this situation. I am a graduate student who has been receiving Grad PLUS loans for 3 years, I qualify for the exemption under the new act. My school is telling me that the DoE has generated an eligibility code indicating that I do not qualify. I contacted FSA who ensured me multiple times that I do qualify. What do I do? I genuinely have no idea on how to navigate this and need these loans.

I have 55K in loans, I make 89K and filed taxes separately. I live in NYC and have expensive living costs and I also contribute to a Tax Deferred Annuity every month, so my actual take home is much less compared to my salary. Mohela is asking me to pay 492/month. When I apply for IBR all the simulations said I would be paying 300-350/month. Does this sound right? Did Mohela or I make a mistake?

So I’m in my last year of school after several years off. I have a job working for the state when I graduate that is eligible for PSLF. I was previously enrolled in SAVE but of course that ended and my payments are currently deferred since I’m in school. Once it’s time to start paying what is my best option? I want the payment to be a low as possible obviously, and want to make sure they all count towards PSLF which will be 10 years of payments. My total loan balance will be about $58k and I’m scared my monthly payment will be crazy.

I applied for RAP because of the lower payment, but I plan on sending in $100 instead of the minimum $10. I'll see if I can get on autopay so that I won't be late.

Edit: I've decided to just pay the minimum. Thank you all for the advice!

Hi :')

I'm a 21-year-old Medical Laboratory Science student, currently in my last year (woohoo!). I honestly never thought I'd be making a post like this, but here we are lol.

I've been thinking about taking out a loan to pay for my tuition (it's around $800 USD) and I have absolutely no idea if that's a smart decision or if I'm just desperate at this point.

A little background: I moved away from home for school, so aside from tuition, I also have rent and bills to worry about. I'm lucky enough to have a government scholarship, but the stipend is always delayed, and when it finally arrives it basically just goes straight to my rent and utilities.

My family's financial situation also changed a lot over the last couple of years. We used to be able to pay my tuition without too much trouble, but now we're struggling just to keep up with installment payments. My mom is a teacher and she's pretty much the only stable source of income right now, so I really don't want to keep asking my parents for money when I know they're already stretched thin.

People always suggest getting a part-time job, and trust me, I would if I could. 😭 The problem is I'm doing clinical rotations for about 32 hours a week, plus classes, assignments, and studying. By the time I get home I'm usually exhausted. I know some people somehow balance work and school, but I honestly don't know how.

I've also applied for a couple of other scholarships/financial aid programs, but they're still being processed, so there's no guarantee I'll get them in time.

I'm just... stuck.

Part of me thinks taking out a loan is the only realistic option because I'm literally so close to graduating, and I'd hate for money to be the reason I don't finish. But the other part of me is scared of getting into debt, especially since I know nothing about loans or personal finance.

If you were in my position, would you borrow the money? Or is there something else you'd try first?

I'd also love to hear from anyone who got through college while dealing with something similar. And if you know any flexible side hustles that actually work with a busy student schedule, pleaaase tell me.

Thanks for reading my mini life crisis 😭