Has anyone had luck emailing the department of education ombudsman? I sent them an email over two weeks ago with no response.

Hey everyone,

I’m in a bit of a crisis right now and trying to make sense of what's happening with my student loans. For context, I've been registered and approved for the SAVE plan, and I’d accepted the reality that I’d be paying about 5-10% of my gross income for the rest of my life. Honestly, it was a relief, and I was prepared for that reality. However, I just checked my Nelnet profile, and it’s saying my monthly payment will be upwards of $1,500. To put this in perspective, that’s around 25-30% of my post-tax income.

Obviously, this isn’t what I signed up for. I'm panicking and am trying to figure out what’s going on here. I suspect it might have something to do with needing to consolidate my loans. But here’s the kicker: Nelnet is not currently taking consolidation applications, so I’d have to transfer to a new provider, which adds a whole new layer of stress. I'm worried that switching providers might reset or affect my eligibility for the SAVE plan.

Does anyone know what might be going on here? Has anyone else experienced something similar or had to deal with switching providers under these circumstances? Any advice on navigating this situation would be a lifesaver right now.

Please help...an overview of the situation below:

Unsubsidized Loans
Total Balance: $75,563
Average Interest Rate: 4.92%

Graduate PLUS Loans
Total Balance: $42,392
Average Interest Rate: 5.79%

Subsidized Loans
Total Balance: $15,690
Average Interest Rate: 4.29%

Income: $54000 AGI

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/14/21
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 5.28%
Total Balance: $20,696

Graduate PLUS Loan
Loan Date: 9/11/21
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 6.28%
Total Balance: $24,914

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 8/24/20
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 4.30%
Total Balance: $20,659

Graduate PLUS Loan
Loan Date: 9/2/20
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 5.30%
Total Balance: $17,478

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 3/18/19
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 6.60%
Total Balance: $12,466

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/12/18
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 6.60%
Total Balance: $9,656

Subsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/12/17
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 4.45%
Total Balance: $4,407

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/12/17
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 4.45%
Total Balance: $3,474

Subsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/13/16
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 3.76%
Total Balance: $3,219

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/13/16
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 3.76%
Total Balance: $3,736

Subsidized Loan
Loan Date: 8/26/15
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 4.29%
Total Balance: $4,535

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 1/27/16
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 4.29%
Total Balance: $2,369

Subsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/24/14
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 4.66%
Total Balance: $3,529

Unsubsidized Loan
Loan Date: 9/24/14
Loan Status: Forbearance
Repayment Plan: Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE)
Interest Rate: 4.66%
Total Balance: $2,507

Long story short, NSLSC notified me today that my loans are going to Government/collection. I have roughly $26000 loan. No way I can pay that back right now. I will be done school in 2 months, hoping to land a job by then. Only then I can even start paying it back. From what I read online, my bank will be shut, my credit card will be blocked, if I get a job everything will be collected and so on.

I am only 23, haven’t even started my life properly.

What are my options now?

I'm a recent college grad, and my first student loan payment is scheduled for December. I have 56k in student loans. I have a relatively low-paying contract job and a part time job to help build up savings. I was able to save an emergency fund these past few months before the student loan payments start.

What is everyone's thoughts on how aggressively I should be paying back student loans? On one hand, I want to pay off loans as quickly as possible so I don't have that debt hanging over my head. On the other hand, if I pay as much as possible and student loan forgiveness gets the OK from the courts in the next 5 to 10 years, I will end up financially disadvantaged.

Any input or advice is appreciated!

I originally took out a total of 72k of student loans with Sallie Mae, with two of the loans being of variable interest rates that ballooned to 18%. Once I graduated, the interest capitalized and the principal was 110k. I was able to refinance my loans to 5.1%. I’ve paid over 45k in the past two years and I still have 86k left. I’m in a fortunate spot to be able to pay more but I’m just really sad to see how insane student loans are. On a personal level, I feel like I’m missing out on so much in my twenties. I have a six figure job but live extremely frugal. I drive a little beater, rent with roommates and rarely travel. I want to buy my first home, buy a new car, start a masters & start a family but I really just want to get rid of these student loans, first.

I just got accepted into college and is the first in my family to go. I have no idea where to start applying for loans. College cost of attendance is about $25k a year before any financial aid. My based tuition will be covered by the state. So I need to borrow at least $19k but due to my family high income we do not qualify for any need based. My family is willing to help but writing a check to the school for $19k is going to be hard. So im looking for a school year installment plan. The college has a program but only covers $5500 a semester any amount above that will be required to be put down as a down payment. That would still leave me $8000 up front. I am applying for scholarships but with an average gpa of 3.3 and low test scores it limits what I qualify for. I dont want a loan that stretches for years. I just need something that allows payments from August to May every school year. Im in Atlanta Georgia if that helps. Thank you

I have federal student loans through Mohela and I just received a document saying that my repayments must will restart in February 2025 for an exorbitant amount.

"Notice of Repayment Schedule Change Your repayment plan or schedule on one or more of your loan(s) has changed. Your new monthly payment is now $941.59 and will begin on 02/28/25. Your Repayment Plan is: INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT (IDR)"

The Mohela document says that I was put on the DR plan but I did not request this change. The last thing I had done submit an application in May 2024 to be put on the REPAYE (SAVE) plan. Now months later I am receiving this document saying that 1) they have moved me off from REPAYE (SAVE) to IDR and 2) that my my loan payment of $941.59 will restart in February 2025.

I am definitely freaking me out and trying to understand. Is anyone else going through this? Can you help me understand what this

Hello,

I'm an undergrad at a community college affiliated with a huge state University. I got a modest financial aid package with a bit of a refund. My student account balance was zero after my loans hit my account. Then I checked my account a few days ago for no particular reason, and I saw a pending charge of about $315 for a "Book Charge (TIV)".

I am very upset. I thought all my bills for school had been paid for last month, now this. This has the potential of making it too difficult to get by financially this academic semester. I contacted a kind lady at the Financial Aid office and told her about this, asking if it was a mistake. She said she didn't see it on her end in the first place. Then she said she feels it's a mistake because she can check if a student used any of their book credit before the student loan refund was actually disbursed, and in my case, I did not at all. She feels it should be removed from my account as it's an error. I contacted the Bursar's office via email making this request, stating if the charge remains, I would file a Grievance.

I was wondering if anyone had any feedback or input on this. I'm taking 2 classes and neither of them require me to buy any printed textbooks, nor printed materials of any kind. Furthermore, one of the classes, an English class, doesn't even have an online textbook like the second one (Chemistry) does. It's just a series of YouTube videos.

Can someone rest my nerves on this, please? Is this indeed a mistake, I hope?

Thanks.

I've been in public service since 2015 but i didn't pay loans over COVID and I've been in grad school since 2021 and have been in forbearance. So for my undergrad loans I've made 47/120 payments and none for grad school. Can I pay a small amount to start this process? Any guidance or advice on how to best manage this would be helpful. It's so overwhelming to me! If you have advice on people or companies to reach out to for guidance that would be helpful too. Thank you!!

I am about $20k in debt from undergrad loans. I received this letter from Nelnet Aug 24, 2024.

"On July 18, 2024, a federal court issued a stay preventing the Department of Education (ED) from operating the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. As a result of this ruling, ED has directed Nelnet to put your account into a forbearance. You can find more information at studentaid.gov/saveaction.

What does this mean for me?

• While you are in this forbearance no payment is required on your account and your interest rate will be set to 0%. This means no interest will accrue while you are in the forbearance.

• You will not receive credit toward IDR forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for the month(s) covered by the forbearance.

• If you made or make a payment for the month(s) you are in the forbearance, the amounts paid will go toward satisfying your future payment(s).

• We will notify you before the forbearance comes to an end. We do not currently have a time estimate. We will then send you your next monthly billing statement at least 21 days before your next monthly payment is due.

If you do not want to be in this forbearance, please contact us at 888-486-4722. In order to avoid this forbearance, you will need to select a different repayment plan that is not SAVE. When you call us, we will discuss the available repayment plans you are eligible for and the timeline for enrolling in a different repayment plan."

With my income, I can get the $20k principal paid off in about 7 months. My question is, should I start making payments now? If I do make payments now, will those payments go towards the principal? I am confused about the "amounts paid will go toward satisfying your future payments"

My current accrued interest through Oct 15, 2024 is $0- Does this indicate my accrued interest is going to start soon since the 15th just passed?

I was reading other places that the payments will go towards interest, but I don't have any accrued and according to the forbearance, my interest rate is 0%. People suggest putting the money I would use to pay off the loans in a HYSA and then do a lump sum right before forbearance ends. But I would like to get these paid off ASAP. Any advice welcome.

Hi! I graduate in December I’m 28 don’t make a lot in California. I have 22,000 in student loans. Unsubsidized and subsidized. Can anyone tell me what I should do? Apply for? & what the difference is between the different payment plans? I understand IDR that’s bout it. I’m confused & lost! lol Any help, or advice would be greatly appreciated

So I'm devastated that I fell victim to a student loan forgiveness scam...... they took atleast 1400 from me and my mother, I found out because after 5 months of paying then I tried calling and emailing them and everything has been rid of.... tried contacting my bank but they said it was past the 60 days to do a claim.... please what can I do to get my money back, I know I'm not the only one this has happened to due to other reddit, but I have no info is a lawsuit has been filed or not please help!!!!!

Is there any way to contact repaying student loans without calling is there an email I can use? The social media’s provided don’t have an option to DM. The phone number they’ve provided on the gov website has cut me off 3 times now after 30 mins of waiting. If anyone has any solutions that would be much appreciated ☺️

Hi! I need so much help figuring out which repayment plan is best for me. I just graduated with my masters in occupational therapy (OT) and I have accumulated $69k in student loan debt. I am the first of my family to go to college so I have no idea what I’m even doing with these loans. All my loans are through fafsa, subsidized unsub and grad plus. I see a lot about loan forgiveness after a certain amount of payments/years. Is there certain things that qualify you/disqualify you for loan forgiveness? I currently do not have a job but based on statistics of new grad OTs I will have a median salary around 65k.

From my account it shows:

for the save plan: Monthly Payment $153 Estimated Total to be Paid $39,217 Estimated Forgiveness Amount $69,247 Payment Period Up to 25 Yrs Estimated Forgiveness Date Sep 2049 Repayment Type @ Income Based

Income based repayment plan: MONTHLY PAYMENT $314 TOTAL TO BE PAID $75,677 FORGIVENESS DATE September 2044 FORGIVENESS AMOUNT $68,098

Standard repayment plan:

MONTHLY PAYMENT $760 TOTAL TO BE PAID $91,091 PAY OFF DATE September 2034 FORGIVENESS AMOUNT $0

Please help because I literally have no clue what I am doing. Which repayment plan would be best for me based on my projected income & career? Will a portion of my loans 100% be forgiven? Or is there a catch? When do they decide it will be forgiven? Do you have to make under a certain amount for them to be forgiven? I am so lost. I would be so grateful for any help.

I currently am on an income driven repayment plan where I owe $0/month. However, my student loan total is nearly $400,000. This is a combination of loans from undergrad and graduate school. I likely accrue $20,000 in interest every year on this amount currently.

My questions are:

• Is it risky to apply to the SAVE program to potentially have support in not accruing interest on loans over time? I ask this because I will continue to have $0/month in payments owed until March of next year. Since applying to new loan programs often require income information, I worry that I then may end up being required to make more in monthly payments than the interest that accrues currently over time.
• If this is not the best option, what might be the best option? Specifically, I'd like to not accrue interest over time and have as low to no payment as possible for the next few years. 

I was a RAD student as a single mom of an infant/toddler years ago. FAFSA and state grants meant I didn’t have to pay any tuition, my return covered my books etc., and I had a single mom-type grant through the state that we lived on (we literally scraped by) while I was in school. We made it work.

A few years in, I was in a pretty bad car wreck. Nobody’s fault, one of those completely unavoidable nature related things. My car was totaled, so my mom co-signed for me to get a Sallie Mae loan to get a new (used) vehicle.

My last year of college before clinicals, my grandfather was diagnosed with round 2 of cancer (and my grandma has late stage dementia, so I was doubly helping them), and we had 4 family members pass away within 3 months. I dropped out to help my family, deferred my student loan payments, and started working full time with no degree.

I’ve been out of school and working full time for almost 4 years now, barely scraping by and barely able to pay the minimum on that Sallie Mae loan. All of a sudden I check my credit report and see two more student loans, one less than $1,000 and the other looks like just a regular small loan. I still don’t know what the small one is? The one that looks more normal is apparently where FAFSA or something similar is expecting me to pay back the last semester I was in school. I have not gotten any correspondence in any way regarding either of these. I don’t know who to pay, why I’m paying it, what it is, if I can get rid of it some other way, nothing. I have contacted the financial aid department at two different colleges I attended (community college and 4 year school) and neither one can tell me anything about it. Neither loan is generating any interest- they’ve been the exact same amount for years apparently and are not changing on a monthly basis, based on what I can see.

I have gone to my bank I’ve been with since high school and asked if I could refinance my Sallie Mae loan through them to try to get something more reasonable than an almost 10% interest rate, and I was told they probably couldn’t get anything significantly better than that. I don’t have bad credit- I just have NO credit. These student loans are IT. No credit cards, car loans, nothing.

HOW can I either get a better interest rate on the Sallie Mae loan or how can I get rid of these 3 loans altogether without having to pay them all off in one lump sum? Can I somehow get the two smaller loans forgiven? What are they actually- can someone explain them to me like I’m a child? I’m a first generation college kid in my family with nobody to turn to for help with this.

High School Counselor Here:

I'm trying to help educate my students on the perils and pitfalls of taking out student loans to fund their higher education, but the more I look into it, the more I see an extremely lop-sided and predatory system (tuition costs, hidden fees, capitalized interest, forced administrative forbearance, the inability to discharge during bankruptcy, etc), which got me thinking...

For those of you who have student loans, or have had them, looking back, if you could have designed or negotiated an ideal loan (humor me), or at least a more reasonable one, what would that look like? (As far as your ideal interest rate, term length, lack of capitalization, etc)

I finally figured out to submit documents to Nelnet via email although it was not easy because Nelnet hasn't been remotely helpful. I submitted the documents around midnight. Mainly a self attestment letter stating that I have no taxable nor untaxable income aka no job through a company nor am I self employed. I also submitted my husband and my most recent joint tax return. I didn't black anything out but I really wanted to black out our SSN numbers. I hate giving over private and confidential documents to anyone. My husband is in the military.

I applied for the SAVE plan on October 3rd, 2023. I downloaded my application from the Student Aid website and submitted that along with screenshots from my student aid portal reflecting that the application needs attention. Unfortunately, my student aid portal just started to reflect that my application needs attention a few months back. Before that my student aid portal showed that everything was processed like it should have processed which was and still is confusing.

So basically, I also submitted a letter stating all the difficulties that I have come across with Nelnet since October 3rd 2023 until now which is that basically I was unable to reach them by phone several times, not knowing that they weren't able to process my application to be on the SAVE plan months after I submitted for it, or the fact that I cannot login into my Nelnet account at all and haven't been able to do so for months even after changing my password four times. It's all been quite a nightmare really and I feel that it was done intentionally to prevent me from getting on the SAVE plan. Even my application has issues in it which makes no sense that needs to be corrected.

I do know that my application needs corrections to be made. I don't understand how somethings got wrong on it. My old address and old phone number still listed on the application although I have updated my address, phone number and email address a few years ago both on my Student Aid portal and my Nelnet portal.

I am wondering after all of that am I finally going to be able to be put on the SAVE plan since it's been in limbo almost a year now or will I be forced to stay on my IDR and just renew it. I also mentioned that in the letter that I submitted to Nelnet.

I have a loan that is serviced by MOHELA. I applied for student Loan forgiveness in May, and it is still in review. I was originally told I was on the save plan and needed to buy back my forbearance. However, I made my 120th payment on May 21st, and only moved to the save plan in August. I can't get anyone to talk to me to tell my why it is taking so long. The people at The US department of Ed just keep reading the screen to me and telling me all they can see is what I see. I tried calling MOHELA 3 times this month with no success. Once, I was on hold for nearly 3 hours and they just hung up on me when the workday ended. What can I do?

I submitted my annual employment certification in April. The HR rep confused me for someone else and changed my start date from 2021 to 2002, signed 4/30/24. I couldn’t submit a new one or reach anyone at mohela/student aid due to the pause from May 1 to July something. When the pause was lifted I was advised that the form would be rejected due to having a different start date than my previous 2 for that employer and then submit a new one. Well my form wasn’t rejected it was processed and as of 9/25 I show over 120 payments. I called that same day and let student aid know that my employer put the wrong date and asked if I should submit a new form. They again said not to submit a new form, but they would do a reconsideration request noting that the start date was wrong. Today I got my forgiveness letter. I’m not sure what else to do.

Hi all...the deadline was 10/3 and I missed it. What's next? Should I go ahead and do it now?

I decided to go back to school and I’m just learning about student loans. I’m currently enrolled in radiology school. I was eligible for financial aid back then but now I’m not. My current student loan is $32,000. Is that a lot? And my federal loans don’t cover the full term, is Sallie Mae good company to use to cover the remaining balance? Or is a private- bank loan better ?

I (27M) have been making payments monthly. In July, the Mohela website transitioned to a new version, essentially an update. I have been making payments and have email receipts to confirm them; however, the website is not reflecting these payments and is stating that I am past due. I have called support several times to resolve this issue and was assured it would be fixed and that it wouldn't affect my credit score, unless I was 60 days past due. The last time I called was in September, and once again, I was assured the issue would be resolved (they even confirmed on their end that they can see where I made the payments). This morning, I woke up to a notice that I am 60 days past due on my payments. I don't know what to do.

so i am 20F about to graduate with my bachelors and a MASSIVE amount of debt. my parents have helped me apply for them and assured me they’d help pay for them at the beginning, but never really helped me understand anything about them. i don’t want to be just a daddy’s money girl. i earned these degrees myself and despite loans not being a “reward” for it, im ready to take charge of more of my life. especially since im about to be released into the real world, not just another college student.

i’m graduating 1.5 years early so most people i know either aren’t worrying about repaying yet, or they used other methods to pay (i.e. scholarships, grants from the VA, etc.) but as the silly goose who wanted to move across the country and go to a big public university… i feel like i’ve dug myself a hole.

I have a few direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans through my school (federal loans i think?), as well as a boat load of private loans from 2 other lenders (sofi and sallie mae). i graduate this december and repayment starts the following June/July and i am TERRIFIED.

everywhere i look the language and sheer length of some of the info i’ve found is overwhelming and intimidating. i want to understand this so bad but i don’t know where to start. i barely know how it all works and while i regret nothing about my time at this school, im beginning to wonder if it was really worth all of this.

all i see is lots of digits, sooo many dollar signs and a lot of language i don’t understand. it feels like im reading gibberish when i read the repayment options and how it all works. is there anywhere i can find a simple breakdown/explanation of student loans that will help me understand it from the basics? i need bill nye or a sweet grandma to walk me through it at this point. i’m stressed 😅

I’m a 58 yr old single mom holding a $150k loan with aid advantage. My payments are $750. How is anyone suppose to have enough to survive? My daughter graduated in 2014 from a Can I apply for anything loan forgiveness?

Came across this article: Are student loans from the Art Institute forgiven? Do parent plus loans qualify and Where do I apply? On May 1, 2024, it was announced that borrowers who attended the Art Institutes from 2004

Hey !

I’m a scottish third year paramedic student and I would really like a bursary this year, I can’t have one or tuition as i’m already a fully qualified nurse so have used up all the funding available from SAAS.

It’s not ideal as by virtue of the type of degree I travel for placements but have no reimbursement for accommodation or travel and don’t get the bursary. I also can’t apply for hardship or discretionary support from the university as these are top ups for those in receipt of the bursary.

I got tuition from Carnegie Trust thank Dog! Any advice anyone has for bursaries in Scotland would be amazing !

Hi! I'm a student who passed class 12th this year. I have an offer from an Australian university for my undergraduate degree. I require an education loan but without the involvement of my parents. I do have my cousin and brother in law as my co applicants but I don't want to tell my parents about the education loan as I don't wanna stress them about it which also means that I can't use their IDs in the loan processing. I tried approaching almost all banks and NBFCs but all of them require parents for undergraduate. Does anyone know of any alternatives?

My parents took out a large Parent Plus Loan for most of my school since it was the only federal loan we qualified for.

Now, we want it in my name. Everything I’ve read about a Parent Plus Loan has basically said that there is no way for it to fall to the student’s name/income.

Is there a way to refinance a Parent Plus Loan while keeping it federal?? I’m really trying to avoid another massive private loan, but it’s looking like that will be the case.

Any recommendations on private refinancing options that are income based??

I have around a $25K student loan debt, and I couldn't find a job until now. The market is terrible, and I can't make payments for the loan due to the high cost of living. So do you recommend bankruptcy to take away a private student loan? Does that affect credit history?