Experience with paying back loans

[simplethings]

I anticipate on taking on a large amount of debt for my masters program 120-140k and wanted to know if any graduates could share their experiences under either the Income Based Repayment or Income Contingent Repayment plans.

I have talked with Direct Loans Servicing AND loan exit counselors from the university but still feel slightly uneasy. The IBR plan almost seems too good to be true (really, Mr. Obama only 10-15% of my AGI) and am worried I am missing some fine print somewhere. Anyhow, do you find difficulty qualifying? Did the IBR calculators correctly reflect what you were expected to pay back? Was the loan consolidation process easy? Especially combining under grad and grad debt?

Also, if you could relay any information on documentation you are using to keep track of work for the loan forgiveness program. I understand the basics of the program but with no formal "how-to" from the feds I want to know what folks are doing to prepare.

Any information would be much appreciated!

[tem11]

The biggest catch is that only federal loans qualify and that if you are married, or get married over the next 25 years, you almost certainly won't qualify for IBR with a dual income household. This is a huge fact that most people overlook since a majority of people will get married. For example, I'm going into social work which doesn't pay very well and I plugged an estimate for my husband's income (50K) plus my projected low income (30K) plus my student loan debt (60K) and it said I don't qualify. If you do qualify, your monthly payments are lower but you pay WAY more in interest over the course of those 25 years. Though if you'll have well over 100K in debt, it may not matter.

I've posted this quite a few times on these forums, so apologies if you've seen it elsewhere, but when I just started undergrad there were a ton of loan forgiveness programs at the state level. Every single one in my state has since been abolished due to budget cuts. While this program may very well benefit you in the next 25 years, I would not rely on it being in place forever. If it's still around and operating smoothly, great. But don't sink into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt while relying on this program to help out with your student loan debt. I learned that the hard way in undergrad and will soon have one hell of a time paying undergrad + grad school loans back . Nothing is certain and any administration could make changes to these programs. Especially in times like this, do not spend beyond your means.

Best of luck to you!

[simplethings]

Thanks! All my loans will be federal, since it is now all consolidated. I agree, that I should not rely on IBR or loan forgiveness but ICR is similar and has been in place for some time now.

I think my loan debt would be considerable enough that I will qualify. At least according to the calculators, granted the payment will be 1200-1300.