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As someone who has graduate school loans, I have been told that – based on my current salary and opting to pay back the loan via income based repayment – I will not be able to pay back student loan debt in my lifetime.  What are my best options?

The answer to this questions depends on a couple of things. Do you have federal or private student loans? Are you looking to pay as little as possible each month?

If you only have federal student loans, including a Direct Consolidation Loan, an income-driven repayment plan (a plan where your monthly payment is generally 10-20% of discretionary income) can be a good strategy if your goal is to pay as little as possible each month. An income-based repayment plan will afford you loan forgiveness after 20-25 years depending on when you originally took out those loans.

The answer is a little less clear if you have a mix of federal and private student loans. Your private student loans aren’t going to be forgiven so you should target any extra payments to those first. Your remaining federal loans are suited to an income-driven repayment plan.

If you’re unable to afford your loans and don’t want to make seemingly endless payments the fastest way to get out is through an income-driven repayment plan. It will still be a long haul, 20-25 years, but it won’t be a lifetime.

Currently, any loans forgiven under the income-driven repayment plans are taxable as income. Loans forgiven under Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) are not taxable.