Comments on: What To Do If You Can’t Afford Your Private Student Loans

By: C. S.

C. S. — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 16:25:52 +0000

This doesn’t work for anyone. Also avoid Sallie Mae aka Navient at all costs. I have tried refinancing, consolidating and releasing my co signer ALL denied as I owe more than I borrowed. They have in the last year taken my payments from 1500.00 to over 2200.00 a month. And I expect them to continue to increase. I have paid twice what I borrowed and owe 2.5 times more than I borrowed still. They NEVER give any other options except forberence/deferment. There used to be a 10% interest cap. That is no more either. So this advice does not work for anyone. I even have a VM left where you hear two Navient employees talking to do 1 whatever you can to get as much as you can. Or push foberence never offer cheaper payment plans.

By: alex

alex — Tue, 02 May 2023 06:27:46 +0000

This is one of the most out of touch, unrealistic ‘advice’ articles I’ve read. Saying that a person should work 50+ hours a week for an indefinite period of time and still be living paycheck to paycheck is absurd and borderline dystopian. Can you imagine the kind of mental and physical toll that takes on a person? And simply saying ‘you need to earn more income’ is literally saying nothing of value. You’re sad? Just be happy! 🙂 The honest truth is that the job market over the past 10+ years has not reflected the time and money that students have put into their college education. Entry level jobs are almost nonexistent and the ones that do have openings want to pay their employees $15 an hour while requiring a 4 year degree. Or even worse, jobs that do offer a little higher wage are more often than not warehouse or other physically demanding positions that over work you to the point of exhaustion in every conceivable way. And they don’t have any correlation with the degree you just spent $50k+ on. I wish these private loan providers were more understanding of these very real and prominent issues that graduates are facing every day. It’s heart breaking to see friends and family l go through this while not being able to do anything.

By: Robert Farrington

Robert Farrington — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 15:35:24 +0000

In reply to Annie. Thanks for sharing. How much private student loan debt do you have? How much federal? What's the gap in your monthly budget you're looking to close each month? How much are you making at your day job (40-50 hours per week)? What's a livable US wage to you based on where you live? And where in the US are you located, as the cost of living varies significantly from region to region?

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 02:08:30 +0000

“ The simple fact is, there are 168 hours in each week. You might work 40-50 hours at your day job. You sleep 7 hours per night, so a total of 49 hours per week. For simplicity, let’s call that 100 hours. What are you doing with the remaining 68 hours each week?”

Um, what kind of fairyland do you live in? Say you work 8 hours a day. Get up at 5am, breakfast 10mins, shower/teeth/shave/get dressed/hair 30mins, leave for work at 5.40.

Commute 45mins arrive at work 6.25am, clock in 6.30am. Lunch at 12pm, return to work 12.30pm, work until 3pm. Commute home for 45 mins, arrive home at 3.45 pm.

Change out of work clothes 5mins, toilet break 5mins, eat snack 5mins. It’s now 4pm.

Do housework 1hour, tidy yard/water plants 30 mins. It’s now 5.30pm.

Prepare dinner ingredients 15 mins, cook 30 mins, eat 15 mins, clean kitchen/do dishes 20 mins. It’s now 6.50pm.

Shower, teeth, other hygiene, get dressed 20 mins. It’s now 7.10pm.

I don’t know many people who can function on 7hrs of sleep every night as suggested in the post, personally I need 9hrs, but I’ll split it down the middle and use the medically recommended 8hrs of sleep per night. That means it’s bedtime at 9pm to get up at 5am again.

Allowing 1 hour of wind-down time at 8pm, are you suggesting I door-dash between 7.10 and 8pm? How much time is that just driving to work and home? How much opportunity is there to make extra money in that time?

Ok, so there’s weekends. Rightio, wake up at 6am Saturday, I’ve been busting my ass all week so surely I’m allowed a sleep in 2 days a week. Breakfast 10mins, shower/teeth/shave/get dressed/hair 30mins, start laundry 5mins, it’s 6.45.

Thorough clean of house, including cleaning fridge/freezer, kitchen cupboards, closets and other things that don’t get done throughout the week. Dunno about you, but I can easily spend 6 hours detailing my place, not including once-in-a-while things such as windows etc. It’s now 12.45pm, with the laundry hung out too.

Prepare and eat lunch 30 mins, it’s 1.15pm.

Time to head outside. Weed garden (it’s part of the rental conditions), about 3 hrs for front and back yard. It’s now 3.15pm and we’re ready to start the same routine as weekdays, minus the housework. I now have an extra hour to do door-dash.

Sunday. Get up at 6am (yay for sleep in). Breakfast 10mins, shower/teeth/shave/get dressed/hair 30mins, leave for church at 6.40.

Arrive at church at 7am, service from 7.30 – 10.00. Get past all the after church conversation at about 10.30.

Grocery shopping, after commute from 10.40 to 11.40am. Drive home

Arrive home 12pm, get changed out of church clothes, sort meat into freezer bags, put away groceries, it’s now 12.30.

Get mower out, do lawns for 3 hours. It’s now 3.30pm. Time for the usual routine. Another hour gained from my weekday routine. That could be used for door-dashing.

All up, that makes 50 mins each weekday and 1hr 50mins each weekend day for earning extra money.

This does not include time for kids, pets, parents or friends (unless church counts).

Maybe the correct solution would be to pay workers a living wage. What do you think?

By: Get Real

Get Real — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 16:22:39 +0000

In reply to Robert Farrington.

This is the most out-of-touch response I have ever heard. An individual should not have to dedicate their entire life to making enough money to replay a loan, let alone have their spouse also dedicating their life to paying off the other’s loan as well.
You say “#1 solution is to go make more money”. Thats not realistic.

These loans set incredibly high interest rates and even if they understood what they were signing at 18, when students graduate, there isnt a guarantee that they will get a job in their field of study.