[Debt] 400k in student loans, not sure where to start

[mcdale]

I just graduated professional school and have ~400k in student loans. all of this is very overwhelming and im not sure where to start, what my options are or how to go about taking this all in. any advice/help in appreciated.

According to nslds, this is the loans i currently have:

loan type
original principle
Current Principle
Current Interest Owed
interest rate
interest rate type
status

Direct Stafford unsubsidized
40500
40500
1629.97
6
fixed
grace

Direct Plus Graduate
39381
39381
1849.11
7
fixed
deferment

Direct Stafford unsubsidized
40500
40500
3606.31
5.31
fixed
grace

direct Plus Graduate
40500
40500
4285.5
6.31
fixed
deferment

direct Stafford unsubsidized
40500
40500
6248.92
5.84
fixed
grace

direct Plus Graduate
45462
45462
8215.61
6.84
fixed
deferement

federal perkins
8000

0
5
n/a
grace

direct Stafford unsubsidized
40500
40500
8164.26
5.41
fixed
grace

direct plus graduate
34595
34595
8263.07
6.41
fixed
deferement

direct Stafford unsubsidized
9737
13338.84
195.48
6.8
fixed
in repayment

direct Stafford subsidized
2763
2801.69
23.91
3.4
fixed
in repayment

federal Perkins
2000

0
5
n/a
post deferment grace period

direct consolidated subsidized
3609.84
3578.67
77.02
6.55
fixed
deferment

direct consolidated subsidized
2105.77
2087.59
44.93
6.55
fixed
deferment

direct Stafford subsidized
5500
5483.07
46.77
3.4
fixed
in repayment

direct Stafford unsubsidized
2000
2848.01
41.74
6.8
fixed
in repayment

direct Stafford subsidized
5500
4404.64
61.75
5.6
fixed
in repayment

direct Stafford unsubsidized
2000
2273.99
33.32
6.8
fixed
in repayment

FFEL Stafford unsubsidized
2000
2559.84
37.52
6.8
fixed
in repayment

FFEL Stafford subsidized
5500
4462.62
67.01
6
fixed
in repayment

FFEL Stafford subsidized
4500

0
6.8
fixed
"non-defaulted, paid in full through consolidation loan"

FFEL Stafford subsidized
2625

0
6.8
fixed
"non-defaulted, paid in full through consolidation loan"

with all these loans, i am a little lost as to where to start. the loans in repayment are from my undergrad. the loans in deferment/in grace will be in that status until around 11/2018. Navient does not show my perkins loans either. Anyone can offer any advice as to whether i should be paying off interest because im not sure if/when what loans will capitalize. just looking for general guidance, thank you.

Is there anything I should be doing before these loans are out of their grace of post grad deferment status?

Should I pay off the interest first or just pay down principle?

Edit: appreciate the responses, I'm at work for a few hours, but I'll get back to everyone!

 

[harpburns]

@mcdale No advice, but I’m 18 and just about to start college, and posts like this scare the shit out of me

edit: thank you everyone who took the time to give advice, this gave me a ton to consider going forward. I’m sure I’ll be posting on this sub for advice going forward.

 

[melouise]

@harpburns If you are concerned about the bills Goto community college for 2 years, get all your Gen ed requirements out of the way, get good grades and transfer to a good school to finish out. The Diploma comes with the school name not how you got it.

 

[marrahgrace]

@melouise I did this and actually got additional scholarships when I transferred because of the grades I earned at community college. 10/10 would recommend.

 

[amethystpuppy]

@marrahgrace My brother and I both did this. It worked out really well for him because he was younger and my parents had a much lower income when he transferred so he ended up going to one of the most expensive private schools in the country for 3 years with only about 12k of debt at the end.

 

[marrahgrace]

@amethystpuppy That's awesome! I didn't go to college immediately after high school because everyone was telling me how insanely expensive it was. In the end, it cost me several thousand with grants/scholarships covering almost everything. I do feel very fortunate for that.

 

[amethystpuppy]

@marrahgrace I got out with $27k which was annoying but doable. It definitely cost me what I could have gained from buying a home earlier. Student loans are the economic cancer of the USA. I think the impact on growth has been greatly underestimated.

 

[sop7]

@amethystpuppy The impact on entrepreneurial ship is hard to calculate, as well. Why risk everything on an idea, when you already have massive unavoidable debt hovering over your head.

 

[matt11confused]

@marrahgrace In-state or out-of-state?

 

[marrahgrace]

@matt11confused In state (Michigan), so that helped a lot too

 

[waiting_soul]

@melouise

The Diploma comes with the school name not how you got it.

Agreed, but certain fields (engineering, pre-med) will put you at a significant disadvantage entering a 4-year as a junior.

I went to a private university for a year before transferring to community college and then a competitive state college afterward. The community college education did very little to prepare me for the jump back to 4-year, and I was an English major, which is not very sequential (i.e. you can skip English Lit 101 and still take a 400-level class on an American author). My ability allowed me to step up to the challenge of the 4-year school. I do not attribute my success (3.9 GPA) to what I learned at community college, as it was not challenging at all.

Math and engineering classes are foundationally sequential and missing (by omission) key units in pre-reqs can leave you totally roasted when taking more difficult classes. You cannot take differential equations, e.g., without taking Calc 1 and 2. Community college likely does not have the rigor or challenge of a four-year sequence.

 

[bear78]

@waiting_soul Speaking from personal experience with engineering, my state University and state community college had it worked out so you could transfer seamlessly. Only difference is the CC -> uni method saves you 30k a year those two years. Not all schools work like this.

 

[waiting_soul]

@bear78

my state University and state community college had it worked out so you could transfer seamlessly

As did mine, but it's already challenging for a university department to create internal consistency in its course sequence.

Expecting the dozens of community colleges in my state to coordinate with the dozens of state colleges on their programs is too much.

Edit: As an example, my high school AP Calc BC was the content equivalent of my community college's Calc I and II courses (I took Calc AB and even 2 years later was well-prepared for Calc II at the CC). I would be shocked if, say, Harvard's first-year calc sequence covered no more than 7 months of high school instruction.

 

[resjudicata]

@waiting_soul All the community colleges around me transferred basic math classes just fine when I was in school. Calc I&II are pretty basic math courses, and taking them at a CC or University makes no difference, math is math. You can't interpret it one way or another, so the professors have to teach the same thing no matter what school you go to.

I literally did exactly this and know many others who took Calc I&II, Phsyics I&II, and transferred to a University and graduated in under 5 years total.

All you have to do is a little research and find out before going, most CC will transfer to some University.

 

[waiting_soul]

@resjudicata

You can't interpret it one way or another, so the professors have to teach the same thing no matter what school you go to.

You're right about this, and I too took calc up to diff eqs. The question is whether the scope of the classes are the same. I would contend that a competitive university would have a larger scope. The concepts are the same, but there are more of them at Harvard than North Bumblefuc Community College.

 

[resjudicata]

@waiting_soul True, I would argue the CC I went to was one of the best in the state which may have played a role in how well the classes transferred over to the state college I went to.

 

[waiting_soul]

@resjudicata I too went to a very strong community college (near a large U.S. city, so lots of "failed" academics who were just fine at teaching, if not publishing).

I then went into adjunct instruction, and I can tell you for a fact that professors are reminded by their deans and dept. chairs that it is is a community college, and that people have lives and jobs outside of the classroom.

It's not reasonable to expect a 30-something mother-of-three to invest as much time into a course as an 18-year-old polymath whose sole responsibility in life is to learn, and so the expectations are established.

 

[dceazy]

@melouise Be careful, and make sure that the 4 year school will accept the credits from the community college. I know a few people that got a little screwed that way.

 

[mumbly]

@dceazy That’s where you start with advisors from both colleges and map out what will and won’t transfer. And start early.

 

[unwantedholiness7]

@dceazy People who need to be told this should not be going to college in the first place.