$500,000 in student loan debt

<p>Teacher + electrical engineer is probably about $160,000 annual income or more. They could not have saved up for the kids’ college beforehand?</p>

<p>A teacher and an electrical engineering is about $160,000 annual income…or more??</p>

<p>Maybe they spent too much $$$ on their off springs wants instead of needs? Sounds like they had a difficult time saying the word no</p>

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Somehow there are big infusions of money into this family. If the older two paid off $150k+ each in a short time, how could they do that? One child gets a great job? Maybe, but unlikely for two</p>

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<p>i thought the same thing. even if both started with 50k jobs, they wouldn’t net nearly that much and would have some expenses…car, clothing, etc…even if they lived at home.</p>

<p>I was thinking the same thing…where would a teacher and EE income be more than $160,000 a year?</p>

<p>It would very much depend on where these folks live, and how long they were in these careers. </p>

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<p>funny… I was thinking where would a teacher and EE income be LESS?</p>

<p>My dear, life long friend was making $75,000 after 10 or so years in the profession. She then became an AP, and now a principal. She did have some lean days early on, actually had to pick up a part time job, she then went to the suburbs to teach, where her salary skyrocketed. </p>

<p>Comment that matters to me: “Since each of their three kids decided to attend private universities” Well, the first two have paid off their share of the debt, so I guess it is OK and they guessed right, but when do parents let their kids take a WILD gamble and “decide” to go private when their parents are going that far into debt? Thank heaven their 4th went public, but that is sometimes not cheap either… </p>

<p>canceled post, wrong thread</p>

<p>In some areas of the country, it is not hard for 40-somethings (or older) who are an engineer and teacher couple to be earning $160k+. </p>

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<p>Sure you can. Just eliminate federal loans for music therapy majors – and every other major, for that matter.</p>

<p>I know someone who has that amount of educational debt from last two years of ugrad at a private university known for stingy FA/scholarship packages, 3 years of law school, and being unlucky to graduate into the legal industry collapse in 2008. </p>

<p>While he was one of the lucky few from his graduating class to land a lawyer job, it was at a non-profit making around $30k/year. </p>

<p>^^but then he can apply for IBR repayment for 10 years, work those 10 at the non-profit and the balance of the loan will be forgiven.</p>

<p>what if some of that is a private loan?</p>

<p>See <a href=“http://www.ibrinfo.org/what.vp.html#pslf”>http://www.ibrinfo.org/what.vp.html#pslf&lt;/a&gt; for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

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<p>Well if some is private then it can’t be forgiven, but the payments on the federal loans that can be on IBR will be close to nothing (it’s 10% of income over the federal poverty level so would be just a few dollars a month).</p>

<p>However, if someone decides to do this, then he really should commit to the full 10 years because if he’s only been paying a few dollars per month, the interest is still building up, and at the end of the 10 years if it doesn’t get forgiven, that will be one big loan balance.</p>

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I see a difference between “some areas” and an estimation. </p>

<p>Another thing with IBR is that even if one works the stipulated 10 years and has the entire loan forgiven, my understanding from what I’ve read and heard is that the amount forgiven is treated as income for taxation purposes for the year it occurs. </p>

<p>In short, the forgiveness will come with a ginormous tax burden the graduate may be ill-equipped to pay off in one wallop. </p>

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<p><a href=“http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/teachersalaries.aspx”>http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/teachersalaries.aspx&lt;/a&gt; lists teacher pay in Ipswitch as $67,301 in 2012.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bls.gov/current/oes172071.htm”>http://www.bls.gov/current/oes172071.htm&lt;/a&gt; indicates that electrical engineer pay nationwide median was $89,180 in 2013. However, other sites indicate that electrical engineer pay in Massachusetts is higher at just over $100,000.</p>

<p>As relatively senior and experienced employees, one would expect the parents in the story to have higher than typical pay levels.</p>

<p>Something doesn’t add up. The parents supposedly have 150k remaining which is spread over a 25 year payment plan. How is it possible they can have payments of more than 1700 per month? </p>