How Much Student Debt Do You Have?

Graduated with $210k from a T30. Took a BigLaw associate position right out of school specifically to attack the principal — paid off about $90k in three years before lateral-ing to a boutique where I took a significant pay cut for better work-life balance and more interesting work.

The math on aggressive repayment vs. IDR really does depend on your trajectory. If you're in BigLaw or a high-paying in-house role and you're confident you'll stay in the private sector, aggressive repayment makes sense — the interest cost of stretching it out is real. If you're in public service or heading that direction, PSLF is worth understanding thoroughly before you make repayment decisions, because the right plan at year 2 might be very different from what you'd choose if you only think about the next 12 months.

The one thing I wish someone had told me earlier: refinancing federal loans to private kills your PSLF eligibility and IDR options permanently. I almost did this in my second year when private rates looked attractive and I'm glad I didn't.

Just want to add a data point from the public interest side. $165k from a state law school, currently a staff attorney at a legal aid organization. Enrolled in PAVE — well, enrolled in SAVE until the litigation froze everything.

My payment under IDR is about $280/month right now, which is manageable on a nonprofit salary. Whether the math works out depends entirely on what happens with the forgiveness piece. If IDR forgiveness survives, I'll come out ahead. If the rules change materially again, I'm recalculating.

The psychological aspect of carrying this debt is real and I don't think it gets discussed enough. Even when my monthly payment is manageable, knowing the principal balance is barely moving is its own kind of stress. I've made peace with it but it did affect my career choices — I turned down opportunities that would have taken me out of PSLF eligibility, and I sometimes wonder what I traded for that.