Student Debt

[Sartre79]

I think I know the answer to this already, but I thought I'd ask. If I wanted to quit school, but have racked up a lot of debt ~90K plus 45K from masters and undergrad....is there any way to get debt relief of some kind? Or, am I basically screwed?

[alwaysaangel]

Originally Posted by Sartre79

I think I know the answer to this already, but I thought I'd ask. If I wanted to quit school, but have racked up a lot of debt ~90K plus 45K from masters and undergrad....is there any way to get debt relief of some kind? Or, am I basically screwed?

All that paperwork back when you did your entrance exam. Change in fields and decision to not practice medicine is no reason to not pay them back unless you are dead or permanently disabled.

You could opt or the income based payment plan and start paying it off, but that assumes your income will increase and (I think) has to increase over time. It will be pretty stressful to pay it off and you're going to rack up a ton of interest in the mean time.

But it would be doable if you can get a decent paying job, you just won't have extra money lying around.

[Doctor Bagel]

Not to say you're stuck in med school, but you are stuck with those debts as aaa pointed out. I'd suggest checking out economic hardship rules. With the new law, I believe you're only on the hook for 15% of the difference between your income and 150% of the poverty line (or something like that). What doesn't get paid off in 25 years at this level is discharged. So yeah, you'll still have to service these loans, but they might not cripple you economically.