I'm in your boat, but i've got over 45Gs to pay back YTD both federal and private... the kicker is, I originally had 48thousand to pay back, when I graduated, dad gave me 13thousand late that fall (as per his promise) which I paid to them... and because I didn't "specify" that the $12,480 which made up the extra payment for that month, the loan company put most of it toward interest only and then moved forward the next payment I had to make by 4 months: translation, they took about 7 grand and put it in their pocket on interest that hadn't actually accrued and told me I had just paid off some future monthly payments. Cool, huh? So I stopped paying for a while and by the time I got a hold of someone who could help with the major screw-over that happened, they said 'its too late, that year has ended and we can't change anything once the year is over'. Now since I have been unable to pay (because I'm jobless-yay) the interest has compounded and i'm back to 45Gs in less than a year. Bottom line, I should not have gone to the college my aunt packed me off to if I couldn't afford it. But what did I know at 18?
On top of my crazy debt; the economy sucks-I was laid off due to cutbacks last august-I haven't been able to get work because I have no experience-just a degree and I don't actually want to work at Macdonalds for minimum wage+terrible hours. But all this doesn't matter or upset me anymore because I have the best husband (we have been married for 1 year 2 months) and he works so hard and takes care of me despite my debt and joblessness. On top of that, my creativity and willpower has enabled us to live on a little less than what he used to live on by himself before we got married---I grow our own food, we now have a small flock of birds that will make eggs soon, I drive way, way less and I make 90% of our meals.
Hang in there chicksterjo, I know living with the parents is irritating-I remember it all too well. I think there was a law passed stating that college loan payments cannot make up more than a certain percentage of your take-home... look into that, it may help... Also, if you can consolidate that would be best (I had 14 loans with different interest rates), and get the lowest interest rate you can (obviously). You may also want to tune into am980 (you're in southern CA right) and listen to Dave Ramsey, he is unbelievable about helping you plan to get out of debt.
