I have both Federal and private loans ; fortunately, the income-based repayment for the federal loans requires a reasonable payment ( XXXX-time ever I am grateful for a XXXX ), but the private loan will not consider the fact that with its MASSIVE payment requirement, over half of my monthly salary goes towards student loans. It is crippling and because of the amount of loans in the XXXX place, they will not approve me for a consolidation or refinancing in order to lower the payment. They have absolutely no options for people who are being suffocated by student loans, and let 's face it, the education industry is n't exactly going to yield XXXX.