Public school teacher with 111 qualifying payments left before I’m eligible for the PSFL. The demographics of my school make me ineligible for the 5 year teacher forgiveness loan.
I currently have 52k in student loans at 7.5% interest.
Because of my teacher salary, my current qualifying payment is $0. This does nothing for the interest. In the past, I’ve paid around $300 to pay off the interest each month and keep my loan from growing.
I like teaching. I can see myself teaching for definitely more than 8 more years. If I paid $0 for as long as possible, and let my loan grow, the amount would be paid off after 120 qualifying payments.
Should I continue to pay the minimum required payment, even if it’s $0, and watch my loan grow until it is forgiven? Or, do I continue to just pay the interest and keep my loan where it is until it is forgiven?
My fear is I wake up in 7 years, no longer qualify for PSFL, and watch my loans grow to an even higher amount. I’m sorry if this is a dumb question and the answer is obvious, it’s an honest one.
Contextual info:
-single father to a toddler. Really want to send him to private school and currently only have $1k set aside for that. Because of this, I never eat out, our entertainment is free stuff (playgrounds, parks, libraries)
-My mortgage is 15% of my gross pay each month.
-His preschool costs me around $800/mo. There’s no way around this, I’m on my own with no family to watch him during the day. I’m sure private daycare could be cheaper, but I really want him around other kids for the social aspect.
-No car payment
-Around $500 debt on a $10,000 credit card that I pay off monthly.
-Max contributions to my 457 and my school matches 2.5% if I contribute 4 to their retirement plan.
-I receive VA disability compensation at the 90% rate, which funds my EF every month to a separate bank account that I don’t regularly think about, outside of an emergency.
-10% of my income goes to my Vanguard Roth IRA each month
-5% of my income goes to crypto each month
Submitted December 06, 2017 at 08:26AM by Speducator808 http://ift.tt/2Ae9JOj
