Student loan frustration and what to do
I am having to do my loan repayment and I'm feeling lost, but also incredibly frustrated.
Originally was doing PSLF as a teacher but was never going to make over 45k because of the way its set up in indiana. I had a masters for teaching and the year I was to start teaching, indiana did away with pay schedule, and got rid of masters pay. I had an offer that was 43k to start, and then because of that ruling, they withdrew it and only offered 39k. It was the only place I had interviewed because I was originally happy and liked the area. This was like a month before we reported for teaching. the 2 years I taught, I was rated highly effective both years and what did I get for it? A 1200 dollar 1 time stipend. not even a raise. a stipend.
Long Story Short, I did not stick with teaching because that's horseshit pay for no incentive to be able to grow. I left after 2 years, but was still on IDR because I could get loans forgiven after 20 years.
89k in student loans
I was paying 92 dollars a month for idr. I filed Taxes Jointly this year with my wife, and because of this, on the new PAYE plan, i'll be paying 820 dollars a month. I make 90k a year before taxes, wife makes 62k a year before taxes.
We have not been able to have kids due to her infertility issues and have been paying for IVF, and we're JUST about to start another cycle. If this doesn't work out, it's 40k to potentially still be able to have a child.
Frustrations:
- I understand the arguments of people don't want to pay other student loans. Not why i'm mad. I'm mad because I was promised forgiveness at those terms, and planned my life accordingly, and then these loan terms are getting screwed. I could have been paying these differently for the last 10 years if this was the case. Like, this wouldn't happen with car loans or any other loan unless you signed up for adjustable rates, which I might add, was a huge contributor to the housing bubble.
- we've got people in government complaining there aren't enough babies to replace workers, but then making it impossible for people to have babies and be able to live. I can either pay my loans, or have a baby. We will not be doing ivf at 46 years old.
Questions:
- should I be filing taxes separately from my wife?
- should I be looking at different repayment plans? the lowest plan is 820 a month.
- I started to recertify because of the email that save was being cancelled. should I revoke consent of use and disclosure of federal tax information, which allows the U.S. Department of Education's office of Federal Student Aid to request your federal tax information from the IRS?
- one of the questions for recert is, do you anticipate you'll have new dependents in the next 12 month. Ideally the answer to this is yes, because I'm hoping we get pregnant, but also, who knows. It's also possible to have a premie through IVF, so it could be way sooner than 9 months even. My BIL had one at 5 months through ivf.