My wife and I both have qualifying employment at an approved employer for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, so our balances will be erased after 120 payments. Mine are done in November 2025, with my wife’s in July 2026.

99% of applicants have been rejected from student loan forgiveness. If you are taking a more modest salary in the hopes of having your loans wiped, you need to think twice. The government set a trap — They’ve given people a false hope and as a result increased the amount of borrowing happening for university spending.

Given your repayment rates, it appears you are probably on an income based repayment plan which could also mean your loan balance is increasing and not decreasing as a result. Given the budget, this forgiveness idea seems like a huge part of your future plans I would hate for your family to be sitting in your accountants office in the next decade panicking over the fact you actually owe more on these loans than you did when you got out of college.

Thanks for the very personal account with all of this, but please dig into the “forgiveness program” a bit more deeply.

And don’t let these folks convince you that you have to buy a home. That’s a myth. Given your current income to expense ratio, someone is going to make a move soon to a higher paying job, and renting will afford you this ability. Buying will lock you into something, and just like that car you had to repair, well, if you buy, everything is your responsibility.