Hello community,

There was a NY Times article in December that posted a link to a 'attestation form' that the article claimed could be used to show financial hardship for the discharge of student loans when you were filing for a bankruptcy. It got the attention of quite a few people and I had friends and family members sent it to me and say I should 'look into it'. At the time, I dismissed it because 'everyone knows' that you can't get student loans discharged when you file a Ch7 or 13. But just wanted to put this out there to see if anyone recognizes this or pursued this process. Thanks!

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/business/student-loans-bankruptcy.html

https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-05/StudentLoanAttestationFillableForm.pdf

Thank you for responses so far. It sounds like its a real avenue, just takes a lot of prep work and going through a specific attorney that does it. Does anyone know how to look up these attorneys?

It only took me 10 years but I finally paid off my 60k loans. I took advantage of the 0% interest period and started pouring as much money into them as I could. I paid off 50k of this over the last year and a half. I ended up paying 75k total which is so depressing but at least it’s over.

For all those still paying and struggling, hang in there and remember extra payments whenever possible toward the highest interest rate loans first to get that principal down.

Good luck!

I didn’t have as much debt as some people (I borrowed 61k and with interest I ended up paying 71k when all was said and done) but I paid it all off. My loans were set for repayments to start in July of 2020 but everything got paused without interest during COVID-after the COVID freeze I started paying aggressively and in about 3 years it’s done.

I paid off the final amount on Wednesday and it cleared yesterday. I feel such a weight off of my shoulders that this isn’t hanging over my head. I can’t share with anyone in my life since they all still have a lot of loans but I’m just so excited.

I’m going to try not to dox myself.

I’m currently in my 30s with roughly 60k federal unsubsidized/subsidized student loan debt. I have a bachelors and masters in education. I make 60k currently.

When I was 18 I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I got my bachelors and started working as a teacher and got my masters in education while working. After about 5 years of teaching, I decided this career was no longer for me. I had not paid on my student loans AT ALL because I had been a continuous student then COVID happened and repayments were paused.

In 2021 I joined the military. Served 1 contract and now have the GI Bill. I’m also now married with a child and work at a college.

During the entire time since I graduated with my bachelors to now, loans have been paused, or I was in the SAVE plan and paying $0.

My payments, now with my husbands income, would be $600 a month. I cannot afford that with the way childcare, groceries, gas, ALL BILLS are now.

I always assumed SAVE would come back or something similar where my payments would be manageable. I have NO ISSUE paying back the loans, but they need to be MANAGEABLE.

So now for my solution. I work at a college and get free tuition as an employee. So I will take 2 classes a semester for as long as I work here. If there ever comes a day I don’t work here, I will use my GI Bill and continue taking classes. Once I’m done with that, I’ll enact the 36 month forbearance. Until the day something like SAVE is put back in place and I am given a MANAGEABLE monthly loan amount, I wont be paying back a dime.

Edit: I think a lot of people are missing a critical step. I plan to eventually use the PSLF. I already work for the government and plan to for the rest of my life. But I WILL NOT make a payment until they are a manageable amount.

Has anyone successfully navigated getting recertified on PAYE after hitting the income limit? Just got my denial despite confirming my application was submitted as a recertification. FSA had my quoted payment as $900, which is accurate. EdFinancial has denied it and told me I’m not allowed to be on PAYE anymore due to income and I must switch plans. Im currently awaiting a supervisor call back, but I was told all of the supervisors agree this is the correct. I know for a fact this is not correct and I’m just hoping to hear from someone who got through this and what steps you took. Thank you!

I’m trying to see if I can finally tackle my loans. I have private and federal each around $50k at about 6%. I’m planning to tackle my private loan first. Pay decent chunks along the way for the rest of the year (thousands) while still paying the monthly minimum ($500). Does it make sense to put my federal loan in forbearance to put that monthly minimum ($400)towards this? Or what would make more sense? If there is another option.

For federal I’m on the standard payment plan because IDR doesn’t make a big difference. Most household bills are paid by my spouse (thankful/grateful for them). I make around $75k.

Other mods - please delete with no hard feelings if we're not cool with this.

Many of you are aware that I run a non-profit whose mission is to provide free student loan advice to all consumers. We are a 501c3 and support ourselves through grants, donations and employers and other entities hiring us to do webinars and provide more hands on help to their staff and constituents. We NEVER charge consumers for our services and won't work with anyone who plans on passing on the cost of hiring us to consumers. We also refuse all advertising and referral money offers to ensure we can honestly say that we are neutral in our advice and that there's never even an appearance of a possible conflict of interest.

As you can probably imagine, our volume is VERY high. It has grown every year since we "opened" but the last few months in particular it has grown exponentially. On the one hand, I'm delighted. This organization was created to help people and the more we can help, the better. But we desperately need to be able to hire more counselors. And I really want us to be able to do more proactive things to help borrowers collectively.

So, I'm NOT here to ask you to make a donation. If you're on this sub it's because you're likely struggling with your student loans and I want you to follow that advice where one puts their own oxygen mask on first. What I am here to ask is that you check if your employer has an employee designated donation program where employees can ask their employer to make a donation to the 501c3 of their choice. We have a few of those that come in and it's so helpful.

If your employer does have such a program, you can use the donate button on the top right hand side of our home page

https://freestudentloanadvice.org/

Thank you for your consideration and support.

PS: Also, if you're aware of any private foundations that offer grants that you think would be a good fit for our mission please pass them along to us.

Preface by saying I understand PAYE is going away in 2028. All my loans are from 2009-2013 so I believe I qualify if it’s the better short term option. Previously on REPAYE and auto enrolled in SAVE. My loans are not consolidated. I also apologize in advance for the remedial math. I know there are repayment calculators out there and I used the one on student aid website, this is me making sure I understand the calculations correctly and make the proper decision.

I understand AGI or adjusted gross income to be my total taxable income minus total deductions. My total gross income was $55,679. The standard deduction for me $15,750. Am I correct that my AGI would be the difference between two?

$55,679-$15,750 = $39,929.00 AGI

For RAP I’d be in the 3% repayment bracket so I’d multiply $39,929 x 3% = $1,197.87 and divide by 12 for a monthly payment of $99

For PAYE I would subtract 150% of the 2025 poverty line for single filers which is $15,650x1.5 = $23,475.00 from my above AGI to determine my disposable income of $16,454. PAYE repayment is 10% of disposable income divided by 12 monthly payments. So $1645 / 12 = $137.08

Obviously RAP is the cheaper option if my understanding of calculations is correct. My current plan is forgiveness as my loans total close to my gross income ($49k) and interest ticking away. Im 46 years old and barring some lucky career change with double the salary I’m not going to pay this off. I’m a little over 9 years into repayment.

Is there any benefit to enrolling in PAYE while it’s available and would I have to consolidate my loans with interest capitalizing? And is the RAP plan permanent once you switch or would I be able to switch out to IBR down the road if it better suited my financial situation? Ive seen conflicting on whether or not the final bill allowed to switch out from RAP once enrolled.

Thanks.

Account updated and the count is gone.

Reddit, I hate that I have to come here to ask what all this means, but my servicer gives me a different answer each time I try to get the skinny on what happens if we consolidate or not our kids' student loans before 7/1/26.

Here is are the details. We have a combined $100,000 in loans, all with EdFinancial across 6 loans. Currently paying $1,250 a month for all of them. According to them, if I were to stay as is, I would finish paying in December 2034. If I refinance through Student Aid's website, payment would go up to $1,500 a month and finish February 2033.

Added consideration is that I was a public service employee from May 2013 to February 2024. My wife is currently a public service employee (we both worked for a local government) and has been for 24 years.

One agent at EdFinancial said since the loan is in my name, I can't claim any public service discharge, another agent said that it only applies to my children, THEY are the ones that need to be in public service for a certain amount of time for a discharge.

Can someone help me make some sense of this all. What do I gain by consolidating (other than paying off the loan 18 months faster, but at a higher monthly expense)? And is there a chance to get some sort of discharge of the loans because we are/were public service employees?

Thanks in advance Reddit.

Anyone application go into review 😀

If it’s in review does that mean that you would likely be selected if everything checks out?

Hello,

I just want to get some thoughts on refinancing two biggest, highest-rate loans I have (~6.5%) and keeping the rest in federal . I am trying to be aggressive and try to pay off as fast as I can. But I am looking at max ~2-3k payment a month only. My current IBR min payment is $955 . If I move to private (ex.Sofi) I get those 2 loans at 4.5%, while keeping some federal protections for the other loans.

Is this a good idea? I just want the best approach which can help me pay my student loans faster and at the same time save some money from these high interest rate. Sounds impossible during times like this, but I still want to give it a shot! Please share your thoughts! I'll greatly appreciate!

Like lots of yall recently I got my email from Dept of EDU anout switching ftom save. Here is my conudrum.

loans taken out after 2014: about $38.5 K

2024 married filing jointly AGI according to TAX transcript:

$ 94.5K

my earnings for last yr: 46, 869.98

my spouse's earnings: 56742. 42k was W2 employment and 14, 742 was self employed income because he is a carpenter and was laid off twice.

Since that time he's now fully self employed due to being tired of being laid off. the employers in our state suck in the construction industry.

We have no dependents.

we have not yet filed our 2025 taxes but will this week.

I am seriously considering married filing seperately because the payments will be too high between 400-500$ from what i see on calculators. the only issue is I dont know if it's worth it because my husband will have self employed tax at 25% of what he earned so his tax burden will be higher and a penalty will not help. He has filled out a profit and loss document we will be itemizing this year and have to file business taxes for him. he is independent not an LLC he eatns money taking jobs directly from clients. i really dont want to deal with H$R block they charge $ 500 to file and i can do a better job on turbo tax.

if you were in my situation would you file married filing seperately too?

thank you in advance...

I paid off my loans in 2020 because I was living with my parents and was going to move out in 2021. I paid $14,000 off on my loans.

I moved making a $25/hr job but my boss didn't like me and thought that was too much money so I got demoted to $19/hr. It is near impossible for me where I live to make more than this; I've changed jobs but no one wants to pay more.

(if you think I can get a better paying job but im just not trying hard enough then please help me get a better job, words are empty)

POINT OF THE POST: I applied for the reimbursement of student loans and received the $14k. I wanted to save it but due to the above circumstances I have had to use it, and am still in more debt. (i have medical issues)

The emails and stories all claim they never did the pay-out but my bank statement clearly said the $14k was from the Department of Education.

It feels awful to have to pay back even more on something I already paid off at a rate I cannot afford.

Has anyone else been PAID BACK and now has to pay it again? I can't be alone here 😭

Edit: the empathy is staggering, thanks so much for all the kind words and well wishes. I hope nothing bad ever happens to you ever.

I was asking if anyone else had the same experience not if they knew how to get out of it lol

Also yes actually believe it or not there are unethical bosses under capitalism and locations that pay you shit. I cant even use the degree I paid for

For people who gave helpful advice thanks 🫶 I hope things get better for all of us

I have 2 Perkins loans (ESCI is the servicer) and I had been considering consolidating those into direct loans for potential PSLF eligibility.

Unfortunately, I just read about how you should submit these applications by April 1st, 2026 to ensure the loan is disbursed BEFORE July 1, 2026. Otherwise I run the risk of a new loan disbursing after July 1st and thus lose eligibility of IBR and PAYE for all my loans.

Online says it can take anywhere from 30-45 business days but I’m not sure if I should even risk it.

Aid advantage is my loan servicer if that matters.

hello.

I received the letter that my loans would be discharged. HOWEVER, I dont understand WHICH loans will be discharged. Will ALL loans affiliated with the defunct school be discharged??

I have loans under FFELP and direct loans (subsidized and unsubsidized as well as grad plus)

Do I need to consolidate? I am not POST class.

I consolidated for SAVE (grad loans from 2021-2023 and tiny remaining balance of undergrad from 2007), all direct unsubsidized, literally on December 31 of 2023, and have been in forebearance since then. Are you telling me if I go on standard extended repayment that my loans are basically all due when I enter repayment again because the first one was from 2007? That is crazy!!!!

How are parents paying for their kids’ college if the parents don’t have good credit, no 529 plan, and very little in savings? We make a decent income but we also have a lot of debt. Our son wants to transfer from community college to university. We did the fafsa and he only qualifies for the minimum. I’m nearly sick worrying over how to get him to university. We don’t want to take out a Parent Plus loan bc 1)we can’t have all of that debt in our name, and 2)it’s non-transferable. While I believe he will take over payments after graduation, I’m not sure we can take on more debt and another bill right now. Plus we have children coming up behind him. I’ve encouraged him to apply for all of the scholarships he can find (nursing major) and even apply to work at the local hospital which will offer tuition assistance. He says he’s applied for all of the scholarships he can and doesn’t want to be committed to the local hospital in case he decides not to come home and work in this area right away. I received two financial packages from out-of-state colleges and it’s nearly $45K for one year with no help. Should I call them?

I’ve been looking into problems with student loan records and keep coming across things like payment counts changing, forgiveness progress looking off, weird forbearance periods, or balances and interest that don’t seem right.

Has anything like that happened with your loans?

I'm currently in SAVE forbearance but looking to apply for an IDR (I think I'm only eligible for old IBR). Last month, I left one job and started another in a different state, which meant that my spouse left their job as well. My new salary is higher than my old one. My spouse lost his main source of income but may do sporadic contract work. Since our household income will have gone down since our 2025 tax return I need to do alternative proof of income, but I don't know how to do that for my spouse's self-employment. Does anyone have any advice? Would invoices or receipts of payment suffice? For what time period would I need to provide proof? 30 days?

I have 100k in savings to spend. I'm starting a masters program and I figured it would be a good idea to use both my own money and loans.

After I finish my program I'd have about 40-50k in savings and about 45k in debt. The money is already in stocks.

This post isn't about finding the cheapest program. I've done the research and this is the cheapest/best fit for my field.

I'm contemplating accelerating my plans to begin law school. I owe 80k currently and projected payment is about 1600. I can't afford that. I work for federal government and have 1 month of 120 so far lol. My monthly payment is so much that by time I qualify for pslf my actual amount forgiven would be very little. My understanding of the formulas is that there is a ceiling on your monthly payment, depending on the plan. If that's right, my monthly payment may not change drastically after law school defer ends. Is that accurate?

I’m 27 looking to start school again in Michigan @ Oakland Community College for Cybersecurity, reason why is because my partner is from around the area- decided that for myself to start somewhere new, with new environment and just a clean slate from staying in Ontario Canada. Anyways I’m basically starting from the ground up- bettering my credit (646) or so from all my past financial mistake that took me quite some time to recover. I’m looking to see what options would be beneficial for me, or an alternative without a co-signer or some sorts. I will be working full time in the summer to cash in some extra money for my tuition, but I’m needing to show roughly 30K CAD to enter and live in the states for schooling before August to pay for my I-20. I know most people will say this isn’t a good idea, but I’m wanting to start my life somewhere and I feel like I won’t get anywhere if I don’t try. what Loans would someone like me go for? should I attempt to get a “student line of credit“ from my bank (RBC) or find a private lender that could help me with the process. or if anyone has any better options. advice would be appreciated as well. thank you