I owe about $21,000 at 2.85% to Direct Loans. I pay $250/month and will get a $5,000 forgiveness if I teach at this high school for 2 more years.
I’m not sure of the interest amount off-hand, but I’m at the tail end of my student loan payoff. I originally borrowed only $13K and I have just a little over $1K left. Should be paid off sometime this year if I follow the schedule, even earlier if I put more into it.
I have about 13K left on my debt after 4 years but I’m planning on playing it all off this year or next. I don’t know what my interest rate is though.
Originally just over $80K, consolidated to 2.875% (if I let them take payments directly from my bank account… the one they know about). Just under $450 / month. This has had a horrendous effect on my quality of life. Basically, I’ve managed to pay every month, but other things like food sometimes become problematic.
It’s now $70K. I take comfort sometimes by running the original loans through an inflation calculator, and telling myself, “Hey! It was $100K in 2009 dollars, it’s 30% paid off!” ETA: I also love inflation. That nearly-$450 is less actual money every month, or so I tell myself.
The sad thing is, when I was in grad school, I did not know that those who asked for more funding after the initial disbursement got it, and those of us who took out loans were assumed to be independently wealthy and did not.
If you have to take a year off to work and earn some money, even if it means using up that six-month non-student grace period, do it.
I have $23k subsidized worth sitting at 6.8% from my recently completed M.S. program. My 6-month grace period is ending and my first payment is due on April 4th. I have no idea how this consolidation stuff works, really need to look into that. This past year I made $22,000 between both jobs, so I would assume I can apply to some sort of “please don’t make me pay you back” program.
I graduated in 2004 with an $18,000 Stafford loan and a $5,000 Perkins loan. Both were deferred for three years while I was in graduate school. The Perkins loan was canceled after I took a job teaching in a high-demand area (math and science). The interest rate on the Stafford loan was cut in half in 2007. I’ve paid off about half of it with some help from my parents. As the interest rate is now something like 1.15%, I pay the minimum amount on that and instead devote as much money to paying off my house, where the interest rate is much higher.