<p>I have $27,000 in student loans and I'm only a sophomore!</p>
<p>It's 3:30 am and as usual, I'm loosing sleep over this!
I'm depressed and feel hopeless!!!!!! and YES I understand it's my fault -I'm not blaming anyone.</p>
<p>the ugly:
a) I don't go to a prestigious school, only a Tier 3 university.
b) Have issues with my confidence/low self-esteem.</p>
<p>bright side (followed by more ugliness):
I do have good credit, and I'm very conscious about keeping up with payments once deferment period ends in 2009, but I feel really overwhelmed already and honestly can't see myself making over $24k/year out of college -making it tuff once repayment begins. </p>
<p>...but let's be optimistic for a second...
-It's 2009
-Just got my finance degree -somehow (with 3.2 GPA from tier 3 school)
-Have 6 years of part-time employment history (maybe 1-2 years business/finance related, others in retail/warehouse)
-$50k debt freshly consolidated with fixed 7% APR
-single -no kids -frugal lifestyle (to some extent)</p>
<p>...can someone PLZ help!! How much hot water am I in??? Should I be worrying this much? Join the military?? personal stories welcomed!! How much debt are you guys in?</p>
<p>Here's a different calculator, which calculates some projected starting salaries with different undergraduate degrees & appropriate loan/repayment amounts:</p>
<p>Hope these are helpful. If you are having trouble sleeping with all this debt, it's definitely time to re-examine your plans & how you're going to reach/meet them. Are you currently attending a school in the state you're a resident in? Those generally have the lowest tuition & expenses & will still give you the college degree to help you get the job you'd like. If you're not, you may wish to consider transferring to a school which is less expensive than your current school. Living at home & commuting can also save money. Taking courses part-time while working is another option, as is earning a lot over the summer to help defray costs. Some schools also have "loan forgiveness programs" where they will forgive a % of your loan if you work for public interest groups for a set period of time. Talk with your Financial Aid office about your situation & see if they have any suggestions.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is NOT unusual for students to graduate with considerable debt. If you really don't believe you'll be earning more than $24,000/year upon graduation from college, repaying a $50,000 loan will be much more problematic & now is a good time to re-examine how much debt you can afford.</p>