Served by Ed Financials

Graduated in May 2023

August 2023 was when I was enrolled in Save

May/June 2024 was put in forbearance

2024 repayment was based on 2023 income taxes

now 2025 repayment will be based on 2024 income tax...but any rough estimate on when I will get recertification or new payment estimated? Can I cruise through much of 2025 on forbearance while the government's legal battle continues?>

What do I do from here since I’m still on the save pause? Should I keep hanging on or should I start looking at IDR plans? This has been a wild ride so far. I don’t have the money to pay on these loans.

I had to reach out to the FSA on something quasi-adjustment related and the text read ”Adjustments… will continue through the end of 2024.”

So are we all going to wake up tomorrow–either hungover or still drunk, to updated payment counts? Or does this mean they’re not going to be done within the next 6 hours?

I’m joking. I already know how that is tracking. Have a fun and safe NYE y’all. And for the love of all things good, take a cab/Lyft/Uber if you’re worse for the wear. There isn’t an IDR plan for DUIs (OWIs if you’re in the land of bad corn, Iowa).

Cheers.

I’ve been given a grant from Thomas for 5k annually. This brings my Cost of Attendance after Federal Loans to be 8,175$.

Does anyone have experience with parent plus loans? Could they cover the 8,175$ left?

Or is this just kind of a dead dream?

Filling out the consolidation forms— for the lender, do I put the current lender or who I want to consolidate the loan with? Crossing my fingers I can get this done by the July 2025 deadline…

I am kind of in a pickle. I got decent financial aid for my first two years of school and didn't have to take out loans, but after some setbacks I'm not eligible for that aid for the Fall 24 semester, and won't be until Fall 25. I still need to pay for Fall 24, and I can't register for Spring 25 classes until it is completely paid off.

Long story short, I'm now on the hook for paying the full $21k before Jan 8th (the first day of classes, and the end of the enrollment period). I also need a loan for Spring 25, but I can put that one on a payment plan. I'm still working on my FAFSA, and I'm applying for private loan via College Ave right now.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with this; how long did it take for your loans to get approved?

Is it possible to get the big 21k loan immediately, then space out next semester's payments?

A google search said it could take 2-10 weeks to get approved, is there any way to expedite that process?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Sincerely, a frantic undergrad student.

I've been working for a non-profit organization for about 3 years now and plan to stay with the organization for the foreseeable future. I learned today about PLSF and that I need to apply for IDR, my concern is around my monthly payments increasing?

I have a 2nd child on the way and am the main provider for my family, I can't really afford a higher monthly payment at this time.. Do I have the ability to go back to my original monthly payments? Does IDR normally result in an increase? (Currently paying $266 a month).

Any advice would be helpful!

So Mohela put me in Forbearance AGAIN. When Navient sold to them I was placed in Forbearance and I had to contact Mohela to get out of it. Well they did it to me again in October. I contacted them to be taken out of it as my payments were low and I was 44/120 payments from payoff.

Well the only way they will take me out of forbearance is if I choose a new plan. The ones offered are 4-8x more. Now my payment won't change as I'll still be 44/120 and the new payment amount won't have me paying it off any quicker but this is what they keep advising me through the SAVE plan.

Well the time has come to consider refinancing, but I have an interesting situation. Hoping to get some advice.

As of today, I have officially made two years of on time payments on my Sallie Mae loans (total of 127k). My balance is now 100k. Unfortunately my credit is not great as I hit hard times due to a medical condition a few years back and a few accounts went to collections (credit cards). I have those accounts either paid off now, or on a payment plan. My credit score isn't terrible, but also not the best (620).

Do I have refinancing options at this point, or should I continue to wait and pay off my other debt first? I just obtained a new job with higher pay and am moving to a cheaper area in my state.

I am pretty lost on what's happening with my student loans and what im required to pay, I just started paying in September (I graduated in June) and my payments were $270~ then earlier this month skyrocketed to $1300 through a message I got, this then lowered to $1200, then finally updated about 2 weeks ago to $822. all of their payments are due 01/20/25, I dont know why they are fluctuating so much, I was going to apply for IDR but I have to consolidate (only 4/21 are eligible) but I keep seeing people on here say that they are screwed because they consolidated and SAVE got chopped. Also, my forbearance ends in 2 days but this also has fluctuated a lot and is not linear.

What is going on? I honestly feel completely lost, I can throw money at my loans for sure but id prefer to get the lowest monthly payment so i can give my extra money to the highest interest rate

I've gotten different answers from different representatives at nelnet. I'm debating whether to file married filling joint or married filling separate. My payments will obviously be lower if only my income is considered, and I file married filling separate. But if I file married filling joint so they take my spouse's income into my ability to pay off we file married filling joint? One rep at nelnet said even if we file joint only my income is looked at, another told me of we file joint both of our income is considered for my repayment.

So basically, I ended up completing my undergraduate and graduate degree at the same university utilizing a progressive degree program. Earning both within 1 year apart. I recently was looking at what I owe in total now and I’m at around $65k in loans which is not horrible but not amazing either. Unfortunately, it’s looking like I could be pushing $96-$101k after I complete my degree based on my number crunching. I’m not 100% sure what happened but when I was calculating this total before I started grad school, I came to around $86k and now I’m really worried if I made the right choice.

I know that I would potentially be able to at least get a job that pays $85k when I finish which I know is below what I owe in total. I feel bad mainly because I don’t wanna be struggling with monthly payments when I finally enter the real world. I know that I can do the Icome repayment plan and that would basically making it less stressful but then I was thinking in 10 years I’d have paid over 200k for two degrees and that doesn’t sound fair😭

Anyways, just wanted to rant and hopefully get some words of encouragement on how to start tackling my debt now + my 6 month grace period before I enter into a real repayment plan. Thank you so much in advance!

Bonus: the only thing that is slightly not as scary is that I know MANYYYY students at my university who just got their bachelors and have over 100k in debt so I guess at least I got two degrees for the price of one😭😭

I've seen IDR approvals for the other servicers but really haven't seen much for Aidvantage. So this is only for Aidvantage clients who have applied for IBR, ICR and PAYE. Anyone received notice their IDR (not SAVE) as been approved yet? If so, when did you apply?

I have federal student loans and my credit score dropped by more than a 100 points in the last two months of the 6 month post graduate grace period. I thought federal student loans don't affect your credit score and for sure not during your grace period. Has anyone ever had that happen to them and is there any way to get the score back up just as fast. Thank you

Hi everybody,

I’m currently a senior in high school and have been applying to private colleges.

I just received my financial aid offer for Thomas College, which is

13,175 Annual Direct Net Cost after Loans.

For context, Thomas College is a college I’d really like to attend. It’s just hard for me to validate the cost, is this cost as bad as some people make it out to be?

If anyone wants to chat more, feel free to dm me I’d greatly appreciate it.

Hey,

I will be graduating soon and have about 65-75k in loans. One is a large 45k loan and the other are smaller loans varying from 1-5k each. They also have a varity of unsub and sub. I like the idea of consolidation; however, I am asking to see if it is smarter to pay the smaller loans off fully instead of consolidating them all.

What would be a smarter financial decision? I plan to pay off the larger loan little by little as I pay off the smaller ones, but if there is a smarter decision let me know.

Hi there, as the title states, Discover sold my loans off to FirstMark.

While with Discover, my loans were in deferment since I’m in school halftime. Now that they’re switched over FirstMark claims I’m two months behind on payment.

From my understanding, FirstMark would honor the original loan terms of Discover. Should I call in asking for in-school deferment since I have classes again starting up in January?

A couple days ago a posted asking if I can view student loans as car loans in order for me to better understand them (I am an immigrant who did not attend college in the US). And you guys delivered! I am in such a better position now. Even though I had done a lot of research for years, I was not able to understand how would student loans would affect my family.

My son's total cost of attendance for a 4-year public university will be $120k. He will receive $50k in merit scholarships and we have $40k saved so far. We will receive zero in financial, but that does mean that I can afford the difference (we managed to save that amount over 17 years of not having cable, iPhones, and we parents driving 20-year old vehicles).

So the plan is to take a $30k loan on his last college year and pay it in 10 years, which is about $350 a month. This does not sound too bad since it is what we already spend on his phone, gas, school supplies, clothing, etc. So it is a continuation of the status quo.

Again, thank you so much. What a great community.

PS: I understand my son can get a job while in college to help offset the costs. But we don't want him to do that, at least in the beginning. I know I might be overprotective bu American standards (again, I am an immigrant) but we want to give our son some time to adapt and feel sure that he can handle classes (Engineering Physics) and college life before adding other responsibilities.

Would love to see how your journeys are going.

I'll start: January: 24.5k Now: 10.9k

My child has an application deadline this weekend, and I am super behind on starting FAFSA. (Pls be kind about this. My life isn't super smooth.)

I ended up in ER 2 days ago, and now find myself in the middle of an urgent medical situation and will be sidelined much of next 5-ish days. She still needs so much help fixing her essay, so I'm hoping I can put a pin in FAFSA. It's going to be very rough for me to be able to effectively help with the essay; having one thing off my plate would be immensely helpful.

I have complicated financial stuff and FAFSA won't be very straightforward or quick.

Thank you, oh great knowledge-hive.

I took out upwards of 60 grand on an MSW I did not finish. I'm really trying to get back to NY and one way I can think of how is getting into maybe an acting program or something wherein I would get financial aid?

I want to make sure I’m paying more towards the higher interest loans first.

I’m in my first year of veterinary school. The main thing I’m worried about right now is my finances and getting through it with the minimal possible debt.

I am 24 and have about 45k in savings right now. I had a scholarship for my 2nd-4th year of undergrad that covered my tuition in full. The scholarship was supposed to be for 4 consecutive years. I did not feel ready to apply and had taken a voluntary gap year to work after undergrad (unfortunately minimum wage to get experience), but I found a loophole because it can be extended if you take a leave of absence, to ensure the last year isn’t wasted. This was dependent on me getting into my state school (which was also my undergrad school) which I did, and I was able to get my manager at the place I worked for a year before school started to write the school a letter proving employment over that year. This saved me from paying my first year of tuition.

My rent is usually about $675 a month with utilities. I have been using my money from savings to pay rent instead of taking out loans, because I want to delay interest being accrued for as long as possible. Starting my second year, I will have to take out loans for tuition. I was thinking instead of dumping what I have from savings into that loan, I would just continue to take out the loans for tuition for three years and use my savings to pay for rent over the next three years. That way, instead of graduating with nothing to my name, I hopefully would have at least 10k left in savings by the time I’m out.

Obviously I’d still have loans to pay (over 100k), but I just feel that is a better strategy than completely running my savings down to 0 and having nothing by the time I’m done with school. Not sure whether this is a good strategy or not and am open to suggestions for anything else I could do. I currently keep my savings in a HYSA. It used to be 5% interest but now it’s only 3.9%, but I still get about $150 a month from interest alone. I am also working over winter break to try and offset costs a bit. I may not have a job over the summer which is why I decided to do that, otherwise I wouldn’t. But I’m hoping all this will pay off.

I try not to deny myself things like eating out occasionally, Starbucks, etc, but I also am trying to be mindful of how much I spend per week and minimizing costs where I can. I figured I can either cut back for 3 years in school and treat myself later or treat myself now and then face the consequences of debt I cannot get out of for the next two decades. Maybe this isn’t the correct mindset but I just want to set myself up in a better position later on. Especially because I do want kids after graduating. I was extremely fortunate to not have undergraduate debt and have the first year covered, so I don’t want to waste that opportunity.

For context, my tuition is about $36,000-37,000 a year including school fees. Living is about $8000 a year give or take for rent alone. So about 45k a year. My partner makes about 75k right out of undergrad so I’m hoping by the time I graduate this will help a bit. But If I didn’t get into my in state, I honestly don’t know whether I would have ended up in vet school, because their tuition is 60k alone and total with living probably about 68k-80k depending on rent. Before I got in, I was told by many vets that the biggest savings you will see in your life is getting into and going to an in state school vs out of state.

I have a current student refinanced loan through LendKey at a current balance of $21,659.63. This was originally a $27,751.10 loan for 5 years 8.3% fixed rate. I am currently looking to refinance yet again and have found that I could get it down to a 5.89% fixed rate for 5 years with SoFi from the current balance.

I am curious if that would be wise to do and just restart at 5 years? I want to get this paid off as quick as possible. This would lower my monthly payment, but I would keep the same payment that I already do to get the loan paid down quicker. I think that would help with the length and maybe even reduce the loan down to being paid off quicker in turn with the new rate. Does this make sense to do? I’m not worried about my credit either as I have a good score at ~mid 700s.

Any advice from anyone that has had experience with this in the past?

I took out a $87,474 private student loan through College Avenue and have a 13.5% interest rate and my monthly student loan payment is $1,477 (big mistake... I know). Thankfully, my parents are paying half of my monthly payment, but I need to figure out a way to lower my interest rate or monthly payment.

I have tried to refinance through SOFI, but they will not offer me anything. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips?

Hello all, I’m hoping someone could help me see things clearly. Not sure if this is the best place to post this?

I have 79k in student loans, originally 120k, which I’ve been aggressively paying off since 2022.

Recently, I’ve been accepted to a loan forgiveness program which awards me 40k over a 3 year period. I’ve already received 1/3 of the funds for 2024. With this program, I can roughly pay off 23k in principal for a few years while I continue to aggressively attack it.

I’m now at a point where my highest interest loan is my car at 6.8%. I owe about 25k and I’m paying almost 500 a month for it.

I also have about 25k in a CD that matures September 2025 and I am not sure what I should do with that money.

Originally I wanted to throw it down on my highest interest student loan, but now I see my car is the highest. However if I throw it down on my car, I could save 500 dollars a month or take that 500 and throw it down on my loans- which are all at around 4-5% interest rates. Or do I just continue to save it?

For clarity, I am trying to aggressively tackle my loans so my husband and I can start building savings for a home and my goal is to reduce my DTI ratio. At this time I have no other debts.

I just went through a period of making less money than what was on my last certification and was trying to figure out if I should lock in the lower income now or leave it alone. Current payments are $0 forbearance but if this was lifted my updated income would cut the month payment by half. My current recertification date is set to July 2025. Would updating my income to my lower amount help push out this date?

It gave me a warning about switching to a different plan if I wasn’t eligible when I was viewing the form. I know for certain I’m eligible and am already on the SAVE plan forbearance but don’t want to get kicked off. So I was wondering if it’s a good idea to just leave it alone or should I lock in my lower income before my income increases again?

Hi everyone,

I am a recent medical school graduate and have started my first year or residency and owe 300k in student loans. I currently make about 70k a year. I looked at my loans on financialaid.gov and realized that I was enrolled in the standard repayment model and now owe 8k for the last two months of payments (3.5k and 4.5k in past due). I feel incredibly stupid as I thought I had already enrolled in an income based repayment program. Obviously, I cannot afford this. I submitted an application for the SAVE program today, but unsure how long it will take to process. Am I stuck having to pay the 8k by the next due date (January 19)? Or does the money get added to my monthly payments once I am enrolled in SAVE? I'm not sure if I'm even asking the right questions, I just know I don't have 8k dollars and really looking for help / clarification. Thank you.

Hi y’all I’m a new grad and I graduated in May with 130k. I’m going for PLSF and I applied for IDR. My current employer qualifies for PLSF. Therefore I want to start making payments even though they’ll be 0 until fix taxes. Anyways, my Nelnet says forbearance until Feb 2026 how do I start sooner so my months at this employer count for PLSf?

Hello all,

I received this letter from Mohela yesterday:

You now have additional time to recertify your Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan

As a result of a court action affecting income driven repayment, MOHELA at the direction of the Department of Education, has changed the date by which you need to recertify your current IDR plan to 03/23/26.

This change will have no impact on your current loan repayment status or your current monthly payment amount. For instance, this means if you are currently in a forbearance, this change does not affect your forbearance.

Based upon this change to your IDR plan recertification date, you will not need to recertify your IDR plan prior to 03/23/26. You should submit your recertification information to MOHELA at least 30 days prior to your new recertification date of 03/23/26. MOHELA will send you a reminder prior to this date to ensure documentation is submitted on time.

This may be a stupid question, but are they telling me that I will continue with IDR for the next 15 months? Apologies if this has already been discussed -- I searched and didn't see anything recent.