Mustangcbra

Hey everyone,

I am a low time pilot (216 hours) who is about to enter service with the National Guard in February to fly the C-130. Times are pretty tough financially right now and I have a feeling that they are not going to be much easier over the next few years until I am done with training and back to my unit where I can pick up missions to make extra money.

I am virtually getting destroyed with student loan payments from aviation college ($750 per month) and I was wondering if anyone out there knows any good programs that might be able to help a low income earner (military or otherwise) with making these payments or, by some miracle having them forgiven.

All the loans I am currently paying on are private loans through Sallie Mae and Wells Fargo. I have already re financed $100,000 of the payments which helped a bit.

If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance for the help.

schoolio

I'm assuming that you'll be going on active duty for UPT?

Read up on the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act. I don't know all of the provisions, but I believe you can get some relief from your loan payments. Secondly, as an O-1, pay isn't terrible, so create a budget for yourself and stick to it. If you don't know where to start, I'm sure someone on here is financially savvy and can give you some good advice.

I know this probably doesn't do much other than give you some ideas as to some starting points, but as a junior officer, that should be all you need to at least get you started...

globalexpress

You could try asking for a forbearance. It's commonly associated with mortgages now-a-days, but it applies to student loans as well as other types of loans. They don't have to give it to you, and if they do, your debt will very likely still accumulate interest. It could give you a reprieve until you are making more money after training.

If those are student loans (you mention Sallie) it is INCREDIBLY difficult to get a student loan discharged, even in bankruptcy. My understanding is that you have to have a pretty extreme hardship case (think: I got hit by a bus and now I'm a quadriplegic and can't work) for a judge to even consider discharging them.

Good luck.

Edit: Also, check out these links

Public Service Loan Forgiveness
http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml

Income Contingency Repayment (probably doesn't apply to you but maybe it does)
http://www.finaid.org/loans/icr.phtml

Justin172

Speaking from frustration and personal experience, when it comes to high student loan debt the best way to repay your loans is to buck up and pay. Deferments and forebearance should are the exception, not the rule.

I think many students loan their way through college, then turn around and go bananas when they realize how much they owe. The longer you wait to pay it off, the more you're going to wind up paying.

Like someone above said, make a budget and stick to it. Figure out the difference between "need" and "nice to have". I've had friends pay off $85,000 in loans in two years. Speaking from experience, it sucks going from eating out whenever I wanted to, to brown-bagging my lunch for the last two years. But getting rid of Sallie Mae is a huge relief. And, once that $100k is paid off, you'll have a big chunk of money sitting around each month!

Good luck!

TheFly

Debt is slavery.....