I graduated not long ago and got a job paying $107k a year. I thought I was set, but I got laid off after just a few months. Now, most job offers I’m getting are between $80-85k, which feels like a big step back.
I have $90k in private loans, and my education wasn’t cheap even though I went to community college first, which still cost $17k a year in my state. Without loans, I couldn’t have gotten a degree and started my career.
I tried asking for forbearance, but my lender wanted to run another credit check and asked a bunch of personal questions about my bills. It felt very invasive, and I’m not sure what to do next.
Are you paying about $750-$1250 a month for your loans? I’m in a similar spot with a big loan, but I quit my last job because it was too toxic. I don’t even have job offers above $50k right now and I’ve got an MBA.
I live in CA, and when I was late by 5 weeks, my lender didn’t even contact me until I was 8 weeks late. There was no late fee until 6 weeks.
You’re being really upfront with your lender, which is good, but a lot of people are behind on their payments right now. Honestly, the lenders know it and use fear to keep people in line.
It sounds like you’re frustrated your plans didn’t work out how you thought, but you’ll probably get back on track soon. You’ve got this! Even if you miss a payment while figuring things out, it’s not the end of the world.
@Noah
I’m paying about $750 a month. I don’t think I need to miss a payment because I have some savings to use for now. It just felt really invasive when they started asking so many personal questions.
@Marley
You should consider taking one of the lower offers. The $107k job was great, but it’s not typical for a recent grad. Salaries are starting to cool down after the post-pandemic highs. You’ll get back to that level eventually, but right now, taking an $85k job and building experience is a solid move. It’s better than draining your savings and hurting your credit.
@Marley
Yeah, if you can avoid dealing with them directly, it’s better. They’re not looking out for you. They’re just trying to keep you paying on time so they don’t lose money. It’s frustrating, but you’ll get through this.
Orin said:
Sorry to hear about your layoff. What field are you working in? And when you say there weren’t cheaper options for school, what do you mean?
I’m in aerospace. I only got $7k in federal loans each year. Community college was $17k total for two years, and my in-state public university was about $30k a year. I had to live on campus since my parents were far away, and they couldn’t help me with college costs.
Layoffs are happening because companies are feeling uneasy about the economy. I won’t get into politics, but we might be heading toward a recession. If that happens, employers will start offering lower salaries because they’ll have a big pool of applicants.
You should think about accepting one of the offers you’ve got now from a stable company before things get worse and competition gets tougher.
Forbearance might feel like a break, but it’ll make things tougher later.
Take the best job offer you can get and think about picking up a side hustle. Try to pay extra on the loan with the highest interest. Also, work on improving your credit score so you can refinance your loans at a lower rate in a year or two.