I went to a private school, got $30K in scholarships and still incurred $140K in debt (including interest, not including undergrad). I am about to start making income based repayments on this loan and working towards public service forgiveness because the monthly payments under a 10 year standard repayment plan would be more than I could afford on my salary (and adding 5-10 years of repayment will cost thousands more). If you are looking into going to a private school: find out what the tuition is, then add $2,000-3,000 because it will go up every year that you attend, then add $3,000 more to account for random university fees, then add your anticipated living expenses, then, if you really love math, calculate how much interest will compound on to the principal amount of the loan while you are in school. Once you have a number go online to a student loan repayment calculator, enter your figures and see what your monthly payments will look like.
It's also important to think about your post graduation priorities. Are you willing to travel or relocate for a high paying job, or do you want to be in a specific area where your pay may be a bit lower? Will you be willing to work a f/t job and pick up home cases or per diem work on the side?
Paying off a huge private school debt is doable, but is it really something that you want to do?
When I applied to PT school I was in a rush to get started and I was relocating so I did not qualify for in state tuition. If I had it to do again I would definitely have waited one year and saved myself thousands (and thousands) of dollars.
