Kate Wood

So I would focus on the right now goal of buying a home.

I just wouldn't forget about the longer term goal of, hey, we want to get rid of the student loan debt.

So a couple of steps that I would take personally, one, I would go through my paperwork to figure out exactly what my payment count is.

There's no longer a counter on studentaid.gov.

This is something that used to be there for IDR.

So you could see, OK, this is how many payments I've made.

That's not there anymore.

Loan servicers we know can be inconsistent, can make mistakes.

So I would look really closely at my payment history.

And because it's PSLF, also my employment history, make sure I know exactly how long I really have left on those loans.

because i'm trying to focus on other goals like bilking up my emergency savings or making a down payment i'd also do whatever i can to minimize my monthly student loan payment so even though repayment options are changing for new borrowers for current borrowers who don't take out any additional loans so if we don't take out any new loans

you still have a number of options.

Income-based repayment, income contingent repayment, pay as you earn are all still technically available to you.

Two of those, ICR and PAYE, are going to go away after 2028.

But you know what?

With PSLF, if she's looking at three years of payments,

If you can get two years of a lower payment, take that two years, right?

Because you're trying to get forgiveness.

Get as much forgiven as possible.

Pay as little toward that balance as you can, right?