eltothemo

Yikes. That's all I can say.

What kind of career do you want? Figure out what a reasonable salary is, and then run the numbers. If you want a federal gov job in DC you will be making around 55k. If you want a non-profit job in DC you will be making in the 40s or low 50s, depending on your work experience. 50k in loans will be about $575/month on a standard 10-year plan. 80k in loans will be about $920/month. Now you can pay less than this each month, but that is a gamble that loan forgiveness will actually exist by the time you're eligible, and it could potentially mean a big tax liability if you move to the private sector (especially as interest accrues). So can you afford to pay the standard 10-year plan? Let's take a salary of 50k. 50,000 / 12 months * .75 (i.e. after tax income) = about $3,125/month. A studio apartment in DC will run you maybe $1500/month. You can cut your rent down to about $1000/month if you're living with roommates. Can you afford a massive loan payment on top of that? Maybe, but it will really hurt. Especially as you get older and are sick of living like a college student.

I'm not so familiar with this program, but I will say that these job stats can be very easily manipulated. For example, some schools will include full-time internships in their "percent employed stat," but then only use full-time gigs for the salary figure.