Amandaspeechie

Graduate School Debt (Private School in Maryland): 50,000 Undergraduate Debt: At least 10,000 Post-Graduate School monthly loan payment: $680 for standard plan to cover about 60,000 in loan debt I worked for a school for two years and started off on an income based loan repayment plan so that I could afford to live in an apartment with my roommate. Without the income based plan, I would have had to move in with family or taken a position elsewhere. On an income based repayment plan, I hardly touched the interest on the loan and really was not paying toward the principal of the loan until I started working in private practice, so it is taking quite a long time to pay my loans down. I finally started paying toward the loan principal and making a bigger difference this past year, and I graduated in 2014 so I've been out of school 4 years. So, in my opinion, the salary income did not justify taking out enormous loans and it is difficult to pay the loans and have a decent budget. I was lucky to have help from my family and received money throughout school for housing, food, and everything aside from tuition. I took 25,000 out in loans per year, which covered the tuition for graduate school for two years. I moved to a high income area in Virginia two years ago and was able to increase salary to 67,000 a year ago. I initially started making close to 47,000 in a school which included better health insurance and was a 10 month position, whereas now I work 12 months with very little paid time off and Holidays. Offers for Maryland school systems were in the 40k-50k range 4 years ago. Don't take loans!!!! The debt makes me feel like I can't afford a house.