conversation: User (constructivedelusion): "http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/22l984/iama_student_loan_counselor_who_has_10_years/"
  Self: "Fed attorney.  I have $106K, wife has $70K.  We're consolidating.  I'm on loan forgiveness.  She's looking for work.  Do the 30 year payments count for forgiveness?  Income based isn't even close to being 10% of discretionary given rent in DC, day care, etc.  Is there a way to appeal their income based calculation?  It's significantly more than the 30 year.  And given the amount of my loan...how much will/can actually be forgiven?  I've seen Obama proposed capping the amount."
  xtrexjpsouz (xtrexjpsouz): "OP doesn't seem to be answering this one, so I'll jump in.\n\n&gt; Do the 30 year payments count for forgiveness?\n \nPayments made under a 30-year repayment plan do not count towards the 120 required for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. (This is the forgiveness plan you were referring to, correct?)\n\n&gt; Income based isn't even close to being 10% of discretionary given rent in DC, day care, etc. Is there a way to appeal their income based calculation?\n\nI have no idea if you would be able to appeal the calculation. Can you truly not afford the 10% payments? I know DC is expensive, but it might be worth re-examining your budget and finding some creative ways to make room for the income-based payments.\n\nAnother thought: Do you typically file taxes jointly or separately? If you file separately, your income will not be included in your wife's IBR/PAYE calculations and vice versa. There are a lot of potential downsides to filing separately so it may not be a good solution, but it's at least worth looking into which filing status is more advantageous in your situation.\n\n&gt; And given the amount of my loan...how much will/can actually be forgiven? I've seen Obama proposed capping the amount.\n\nThere has been a fair amount of discussion on this in /r/studentloans. As of right now, there is no limit to the amount that can be forgiven under PSLF. However, the president has proposed a cap of $57,500 in an effort to prevent students from borrowing exorbitant amounts to pursue low-paying public service professions. It sounds like those who are already on the path to loan forgiveness would be grandfathered in if any changes are made... but it's hard to say for sure."
  Self: "GS-14.  Take home is about $2200.  Rent is $1650.  Part time day care for one of the kids is $363...we can't afford any more than that.  My loans are $659 and will be higher on IBR so I'm trying to define my options.  Hers are around the same but we haven't gotten the official consolidation letter back yet...its in process.  \n\nSo forgiveness is income contingent or income based and thats it...\n\nThe government gives us a locality pay adjustment...it would make sense to factor in locality cost of living when making discretionary income determinations.  My next proposal to Congressman Van Hollen.  \n\nTaxes were filed jointly (first year of marriage).  She's had 3 interviews this year...it hasnt been pretty.  "
  xtrexjpsouz (xtrexjpsouz): "Something isn't adding up here. What is your annual adjusted gross income (AGI)?"
  upward_bound (upward_bound): "I would bet he's somewhere around 75k w/ a 2200 take home (per pay period I presume).\n\nLiving in the area the rent is reasonable, but he could probably go down a bit in the short term (not long term since he'll want good schools for the kid down the road).  \n\n"
  xtrexjpsouz (xtrexjpsouz): "If we assume $75,000 for adjusted gross income (for a family of four) and an average 6.5% interest rate for all of their loans... here are the monthly payments according to the Department of Education's [student loan repayment estimator](https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action):\n\n**Husband**\n\nExtended (25-Year) Plan: $716\n\nIncome-Based Repayment: $299\n\nPay As You Earn: $199\n\n**Wife**\n\nExtended (25-Year) Plan: $473\n\nIncome-Based Repayment: $197\n\nPay As You Earn: $131\n\nSo yeah... the idea that their monthly payments on an income-based plan would be larger than the payments on a 30-year repayment plan sounds like BS to me."
  mauxly (mauxly): "Pay as you earn isn't the same as IBR. I'm in this trap, big-time.\n\nIBR has my husband and I paying over 1K a month.\n\nPAE would make it about $600, which, would actually really really help us.\n\nBut our loans don't qualify for PAE because they are too old. And even though we pay 1K a month, it's almost all in intrest. Seriously, I couldn't believe it. We paid over 12K last year, and our loan amounts dropped under $1000.\n\nWe are, truly fucked. \n\nWe live in an expensive area. Really expensive area. I wish that these loan calculators took average housing costs into consideration.\n\nAnd we've looked into moving, seriously looked into moving. But we are both well employed (long term employment), in specialize fields, in an economy where a shit load of people can't even find work. Wherever I could find a reasonably well paying job, he couldn't. And vice versa.\n\nWe crunched the numbers, it doesn't make sense for us to move.\n\nExcept, man, if we could have average housing costs for our county somehow figured into the  IBR...\n\n...or at the very least, let us qualify for PAE."
  leparsdon (leparsdon): "IBR payments keep you on a 25 years payment schedule, so no you will not be hitting the principal since the main goal is forgiveness at the end. you might want to consider other repayment plans if this is too much for you"
  