Here is a link to the salaries for a masters
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Master_of_Science_(MS),_Microbiology/Salary
I think there are enough scary things about OP borrowing this amount of money without adding more. So far, there has been no loss of income to the employees when the government shuts down. Paychecks may be delayed, but when the budget is passed, there is an amendment that back pay is issued. So far, and of course this can change, with any administration. OP hasn’t said she’ll be working for the federal govt and a state can of course have cutbacks and mandatory furlow days where wages are lost.
Stonybrook outperforms Adelphi in virtually every department, is ranked 100 slots higher in virtually all rankings and costs less than $10,000 per year for tuition and fees. It is a lengthy commute from Garden City but SUNY housing is not expensive,and there are apartments close enough to Stonybrook tomake it much more perfect than Adelphi
Sorry two- but some federal employees actually LIVE on their paychecks. So going without one- and recall that the Washington Post doesn’t print the date that the shutdown ends- is actually material for some people.
Your landlord doesn’t care that the paychecks will resume eventually. The gas station down the block isn’t lending you $30 to fill your tank. Giant doesn’t tell you to take the groceries and pay them back once the government gets back to work.
Your comment is quite insensitive to thousands of government employees who were up a creek when the last shut-down occurred. The only “benefit” my family member got was that the local YMCA offered free admission to anyone with a Federal ID so they could have a workout while they were furloughed.
That doesn’t pay the electric bill although it was quite a lovely gesture.
I was a government employee during the last furlough. Yes, I know that missing a paycheck is a big deal, but not really for student loan repayment purposes because you will eventually get the money (if indeed a paycheck is missed since employees are paid 2 weeks in arrears and if the furlough is short, there is no missed check). I wasn’t furloughed but guess who was? The agency that issued my paycheck! I (could have) had the worst of two worlds, having to go to work with the cost of that gas in the tank yet getting no paycheck. The furlough was short and we did not miss a paycheck. I don’t think anyone did.
During a furlough, the student loan is the first payment to be skipped.
But OP is talking about a plan which requires continuous payments,no?
Thing is, she’s hanging her hat on a plan in which everything has to work out just right or she’s in deepest doodoo. What if grad school doesn’t work out and those loans start coming due earlier than expected? Or if kiddo needs a gap? Or someone gets ill or you suddenly need a new car or the rent jumps? She’s cutting it too close.
CYA isn’t about “perfect world.”
No, the public service forgiveness program only requires 120 payments. There can be breaks, combinations of jobs that qualify. There is a recalculation of the payment every year. You just have to be employed full time by a qualifying agency and make 120 payments, even if some of those payments are $0 but they dont have to be consecutive.
Her bigger problem is going to be figuring out which programs she can used, if she can consolidate parent plus loans with her own student loans, and then which repayment programs are available. I don’t think it will be easy or even cheap for her to pay 20% of disposible income for 10 years. If she were to get married, husband’s income could increase the payments.
Her bigger problem is actually getting the job she thinks she’s getting.
Repayment is the least of her problems. Hiring freezes; change in leadership, change in congressional funding formulas… it’s one thing to be a GS 14 with 15 years tenure in one agency. It’s another to be finishing a Master’s degree and expecting that the job you are qualified for is sitting there waiting for you.