re: Largest student loan debt you have ever heard...

A girl I know has about $100k and not because she has an important high paying job. All because it was private college. Does some kind of marketing at a law firm. Makes minimum payments every month.

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Where did you hear of that?

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Well, maybe it's not common but I know of 3 doctors that did that. All 3 had their loans at least partially paid by their eventual employer though. One story I heard was pretty recently because she was talking about how many miles/points she had racked up while in medical school and was looking forward to traveling.

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a degree from DePaul that qualifies her to be a pre-school "teacher," $10-15/hr., she racked up 6 figures of debt for that world beater degree

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shouldn't that alone preclude her from being around impressionable young minds?

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One story I heard was pretty recently because she was talking about how many miles/points she had racked up while in medical school and was looking forward to traveling

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Do doctors get a lot of time off? I guess she means weekend traveling?

The schools need to be backing these loans not the taxpayers!

Assuming there is no scholarship or aid given, most, if not all, private schools will run you $45,000+ a year for tuition. Most out-of-state, pubic school tuition will run you $30,000+ a year. Most in-state, public school tuition is at least $10,000+ a year. Keep in mind, that tuition doesn't include living expenses, books, and various "fees."

The fact of the matter is that college tuition has gotten ridiculous. Tuition prices have simply skyrocketed in the past 10 or 15 years. As a society, we've ingrained in our youth that you must go to college if you want to be somebody. The problem with that is, most 17-year-olds don't have a clue in what they want to do in life, and sign up for a university because friends or there, they like the campus, or they like the _________ (insert academic department that they'll end up switching their major out of, some multiple times).

We should be imploring them to take gap years. Go move off and work somewhere. Gain some practical knowledge, make a little money, and see different things. It'll give you a chance to grow, mature, and figure out more what and what not you want to do. Repeat to them, college isn't going anywhere. College isn't going anywhere. College is not going anywhere. Additionally, if you move off somewhere and really happen to love that particular state/area, you automatically qualify for in-state tuition as a state resident.

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I may be eating some crow on this next year, but you need 4 and only 4 things:

1. Right kind of loans

2. Right kind of employment

3. Qualifying repayment plan

4. Make your 120 payments under #3

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The other key is not waiting until the end of the 10 years to try and retroactively get everything approved.

They really drag their heels on everything, but if you're persistent it gets done. Wife and I are both hospital employed, and between that and residency we already have 5 years of payments certified and approved.

Not to say something will change, but when I hit the 120th qualifying payment I'm not paying another cent until they approve everything.

I had a much smaller loan debt than my wife, but together we have about $350k. We did the math, and with the 10 year forgiveness we come out ahead, but still end up paying a shite ton.

The 1 silver lining with the student loans is that it forces us to be aggressive with our retirement savings. Between 403s, 457s, and 529s we can decrease our AGI a very large amount keeping the payments down.

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Not to say something will change, but when I hit the 120th qualifying payment I'm not paying another cent until they approve everything.

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I wouldn't do that if I were you.

I believe the very last requirement for the loan forgiveness approval is you must still be current on loan payments and still employed at the qualifying employer.

That's gonna get some people eventually when someone quits their qualifying job after 120 months and then applies for forgiveness.