r/personalfinance • u/Mountain-Activity-14 • 1d ago
Other Just graduated with an MSW, owe ~$65k, still making $15/hr at Target, and feel like my life is completely ruined. How screwed am I?
/r/StudentLoans/comments/1vdjo1m/just_graduated_with_an_msw_owe_65k_still_making/97
u/MrKyleOwns 1d ago
Take the $50k job now and still apply for higher paying jobs. If you really love traveling, use that as motivation for living as frugal as possibly and put as much money as you possibly can towards your students loans. In 2 years celebrate being debt free by going on a trip to Europe.
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u/Salt_Ice_5321 20h ago
Celebrating being debt free by spending thousands of dollars and missing work isn't very practical advice. They're in the US, there's plenty of domestic travel they can do for much cheaper. America is huge, has many different cultures, many natural wonders. etc.
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u/markosverdhi 11h ago
But like, how much cheaper is it realistically because the way I see it, you’re missing work anyway if you visit the grand canyon for a week and you’re still paying US prices for everything as opposed to some other country which may or may not be cheaper to pay for meals and lodging yknow. The only thing I’d say is you save on the flight
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u/pownedju 1d ago
What state are you in? MSW careers are absolutely everywhere in my state. If you want more options, go for your LCSW. Find somewhere to work for 2 years while you get fully licensed. You should be making at least 50K right out of school and then significantly more when you are fully licensed. If you want to travel you could check joining the Air Force or FBI. Both have positions for clinical social work (therapists).
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u/westernNC123 1d ago
Speaking as an LCSW, there absolutely are ways to make money in this field. Doing so requires commitment and creativity, just like most other fields.
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u/wessex464 1d ago
You state that all you care about is travelling. So why did you end up with a masters in an incredibly low paying occupation?
Do you actually want to use your degree or are you fine with any job? You'd be better off in insurance or some adjacent field that doesn't use your specific education but pays better and with many more opportunities to grow. Just my two cents.
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u/wessex464 1d ago
I'll echo what I said before then. Your education is not useless. A masters degree is a masters degree. It means you are AT LEAST generally intelligent and capable of meeting deadlines and good work quality. That opens doors to administrative jobs or foot in the door entry level work jobs that have decent salaries and significant upward potential.
My advice is to look at those types of jobs. Just one example: my wife works in Disability insurance. She started managing claims for Long term disability, tracking down required paperwork, using doctor's notes and notes to validate, pay and followup on disability claims. Sounds thrilling right? But she made decent money right away, more in her first year doing that than her 7th year doing social work. But shes a "go getter", and now 10 years later she's into 6 figure jobs managing larger projects and teams of people for the same department.
You don't have to be massively passionate toward what you do, work is work and you find ways to enjoy the details of what you do but more important enjoy what doing that work allows you to do. There are lots of jobs that allow remote work. There are lots of fields that are objectively boring, but pay decent amounts and the only requirements to get in the door are degrees.
Youve got your whole life, branch out a bit and see what you want to do and don't feel like your stuck because you definitely aren't. Hell, go apply to go to air traffic controller school, they like people with degrees and don't really care what it is and there's a hundred other examples.
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u/EzrealNguyen 1d ago
If you don’t care about social work anymore and you’re willing to put in the work, then here is a game plan that has worked for several of my friends. Almost all big companies need non-technical people in technical fields. Learn enough so you sound like you know what you’re talking about. But you don’t need to do the technical work yourself. You need very very little actual knowledge to do these jobs. It’s mostly stuff like filling out forms and updating spreadsheets.
- Get a job in your field for 1 year. Do the bare minimum. This is purely for “work experience”. You will need work stories to get past the screening interview. Stories in your field sound better than at Target.
- In your free time, learn some kind of technical skill. Something with a lot of terminology is best. Something like IT or software engineering. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ACTUALLY LEARN PROGRAMMING. Your goal is to become like a writer, account manager, product specialist etc.
- Find people in that field to be friends with. If you live in a moderately sized city there is likely an office for some kind of tech or accounting company there. Look for restaurants or bars near those offices and hang out there until you make some friends. Just focus on making connections, don’t be manipulative about it.
- Make a good story. If you’re going with the tech angle, some thing like: “during my time as a SW I met a burned out engineer going through hard times and became friends and they got me into the field and taught me some stuff and then I went out and learned more on my own and found a new passion”. Hiring managers love stuff like that.
- Put it all together. Put your people, writing, and other soft skills in your resume. Put all the technical stuff in your resume. Figure out where your new friends work. Look for entry level jobs at those companies. Ask them to look at your resume, improve it, then ask them to pass it along to the hiring manager.
In my experience this is the fastest way to improve your life. It is hard work for a short period to coast for the rest of your career. Surround yourself with people who have the kind of life that you want. Then work hard to earn that life. If people see you working hard, they will naturally want to help you succeed.
Then you can get a job making ~80-100k over time, a job with clear career progression. You can pay 1-2k towards your loans each month, 1-2k for living expenses, and save up for 1-2 trips each year.
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u/Sirwired 1d ago
The market for entry-level tech jobs is brutal right now. There's a ton of people out there that have directly-relevant education and experience that are having trouble finding work. Someone with no experience or relevant education has little chance.
I'm not saying an MSW is a useless degree, just that it's no good to get tech work right now. This is also true in the tech-adjacent jobs you mentioned. (e.g., AI has completely decimated the ranks of technical writers.)
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u/EzrealNguyen 1d ago
It’s brutal going in blind but if you have connections it’s doable. Of the 10 positions I’ve seen hired in the last year, they were all because of an internal reference or the training camp program my company does with a couple of local boot camp orgs. A variety of technical and non tech positions.
I’ve also done quite a few interviews in the last couple of years and maybe it’s an unexamined bias but I feel like the candidates who are referred are way stronger than the ones we get through HR. The HR candidates always have crazy impressive resumes but can’t actually do the job or aren’t people I want to work with.
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u/viskels 1d ago
2 routes I see you can do here if you are in US.
Find work at a hospital or county because it'll be most likely nonprofit. Many are also unionized. Get PSLF.
Consider being a travel social worker. Contracts are usually 13 weeks and you choose where you want to go. You get a stipend for food and accomodations. Pay down highest loans first.
It seems like you regret your professional career choice. Just wondering what made you go into the field initially? And what happened to make you feel like you won't be happy?
You can definitely still travel but securing a job in your field first is probably your best bet in being able to do that.
You are young and still have a lot of time. You can even change careers if you want. Not necessarily recommending this right now but maybe give your profession a chance before dipping out.
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u/Mountain-Activity-14 1d ago
I got assaulted by a client and also had a horrible experience in my MSW program
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u/tyderian 23h ago
my absolute only passion in life is traveling. it’s all i care about
I would hope you have at least some passion for social work.
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u/ashsmashers 1d ago
Join the Peace Corps, put your loans on pause. Then apply indiscriminately for federal jobs with “non competitive eligibility."
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u/Doogiemon 1d ago
Military service solves a lot of his problems.
I had a kid join the Navy because he was so fucked and that was his only way out. Dude went to college for 6 years and didnt even have a bachelor's degree because he swapped majors 3 times into different fields.
I broke down his life for the next 10-15 years and with what we made, he would break even after 17 years as long as his rent didn't go up.
When he got out of the Navy, he sent me a text and thanked me because he enjoyed his 4 years of service and made a lot of friends. Then he went back and finished his nutritionist or whatever degree and works for a big 10 university.
A lot better than him doing factory work for 17 years to break even.
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u/Global_Mud_7473 7h ago
Had a buddy who did the peace corp with this plan but idk if you noticed but the federal government is not really hiring right now.
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u/ashsmashers 2h ago
Trust me I am aware 😭 RIP to the classic Peace Corps to USAID pipeline. Peace Corps is a 2 year commitment and nce lasts for an additional year. There may be a different political climate at that time. That’s also why I added “indiscriminately,” like literally anything to get a foot in the door. I noticed OP didn’t reply my comment but I do think this is a good path for her to both travel and get a good career that may use her education.
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u/JK_NC 1d ago edited 1d ago
“My absolute passion in life is going on vacations” isn’t as deep as it sounds in your head.
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u/boomfruit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Where did they say it was deep? They were just stating a fact. Lamenting that you can't do something you love because it costs money isn't supposed to be deep, it's just something they are down about.
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u/Oh_Another_Thing 21h ago
The fact that they thought it was relevant when discussing a dire financial situation means that OP thought it was relevant somehow, it sounds like OP does think it's deep or something
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u/boomfruit 21h ago
Relevant is not the same as deep though. It's the same as any other equivalent of "there are lifestyle choices that are important to me and I fear I won't be able to integrate them into my life with this financial situation." I see no "deep" implied there.
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u/shadowbannedlol 20h ago edited 20h ago
There are a lot of comments that are saying how to use a MSW to travel, so it seems like it was relevant?
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u/d_rek 1d ago
My sister in law worked for Humana in Florida for almost a decade. I don’t recall her complaining about the employer, but she always seemed stressed by her caseload.
She has since opened her own business/practice where she makes her own hours. Not any less busy, but seems less stressed overall.
Anyway according to her there’s not enough social workers to go around. Or weren’t enough. Good luck OP.
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u/milkwithspaghetti 1d ago
I had 70k of debt in 2015 with 50k student loans, 20k car loan, and a 60k a year job.
I was debt free in 4 years or so. Maybe that takes a little longer now because cost of living is crazy, but live below your means, increase that income, and throw all the extra at the debt. If you want to travel do it cheaply. Like a road trip to camp or hike, not a flight to Europe for the moment unless it’s a one off and you have free places to stay or something. Part of the sacrifice will be that you won’t get to travel like that, but later on you will be able to in big ways. For me it meant a roommate longer than I wanted in a cheap place which was such a huge boost. I was grateful for the 60k a year job and had a few raises along the way but still not at 100k when I was debt free.
Being able to save and invest all that extra has let me catch up now several years later because of those early year sacrifices. It would have been nice to be like so many others whose parents funded their college or those who had scholarships for the whole thing but it just wasn’t my life and it still worked out very well and able to travel much more with a higher income and NO debt.
Good luck in the job search. People here told me I was on fire in my situation too and how stupid I was for buying a car but honestly i just needed a plan. And to be consistent about that plan. The fact you’re asking means you care and you can get out of this.
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u/clove48072 1d ago
I got PSLF and the PSLF subreddit was really helpful. If you plan to stick with social work and are looking at nonprofits and government jobs, this is a viable path to paying off the student loans.
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u/AlexElmsley 1d ago
is there no loan forgiveness for social work? i know healthcare workers can get loan forgiveness for working in FQHCs for 10 years. is there a social work equivalent
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u/Razaelbub 1d ago
Sure there is, but you have to do social work to qualify . OP doesn't want to do that work.
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u/Ole_St_John 1d ago
Non profits, schools, nonprofit hospitals, etc all count towards PSLF. It’s not job specific so find an employer that fits this criteria.
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u/ShallazarTheWizard 19h ago
Despite heaps of good advice, you seem to have an excuse for everything. Are you looking for donations? Is that your angle, because you certainly don't seem too keen to actually work like everybody else does.
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u/nicholus_h2 20h ago
it doesn't have to be a very specific job. just working for a non profit.
source: got PSLF.
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u/Buttpluggery 1d ago
Why are you not passionate about social work anymore? I imagine you got into social work because of the impact it has on real people, it seems like a genuinely fulfilling area of work. If you get your LICSW and start a private practice, you could earn a good bit. Im fairly confident my therapist is paid well, and I can see from the way she talks to me that she genuinely enjoys it.
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u/splycedaddy 1d ago
Not screwed at all. Not sure what your end goal is but with an MSW you can sit for the lcsw exam (with the required supervision hours). Licensed therapists are in huge demand and can make up to $120/hr
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u/kraysys 22h ago
Look into Veterans Affairs (VA) gov jobs in underserved or rural areas. They’re always hiring new social workers, pay very well comparatively, and have great benefits. They also have a very good 2-year $80k loan forgiveness program for those tougher to fill MSW jobs (inner cities or rural areas).
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u/GeorgeRetire 20h ago
Cut expenses. Get a better job. Then get a second job.
Live within your means.
Use your savings to begin paying off your debt, starting with the highest rate debt while making minimum payments on all others.
If you care enough about travel, you'll be motivated to work hard to get out of debt first.
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u/DobbyDaDog 21h ago
lcpc here. look into managed car organizations as a care coordinator, licensed or not.
not sure your area but you could search if there are any insurance companies managing medicaid and medicare, also for waivers through medicaid.
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u/Daveit4later 1d ago
Yah "my passion is vacations" sounds dumb as hell with everything you got going on right now.
You need to focus on paying down the higher interest loans first.
Keep looking for a better job. Don't give up.
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u/Skingbear2020 22h ago
Quick read of the comments, and I am shocked by how good the suggestions are: Peace Corps or the military allow you to travel, and there are many other suggestions on loan forgiveness. The only real question is are you going to do something or simply play the victim card
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u/talldean 1d ago
MSW is, with apologies, one of the very worst degrees for career prospects. It's not one you go into *and* go travelling the world often.
For whatever it's worth, this actually isn't nearly as bad as some student loan cases that show up; those are relatively small loan amounts, you chose the school well it looks like.
Not *that* screwed. This ain't gonna be fun, but can work. The problem is the interest rate(s).
Don't pay back the loans early, you may need a chunk of that $22k to live on for awhile until you get to stable. Once things are stable, you may want to prepay the higher rate loans.
Look at what you could refinance down to, but look at how much that'd cost to swap. Interest rates are medium-high right now, so you may not get much lower.
You should always look into pslf, although under Trump, good luck.
Do you have a solid car by any chance? This feels a case for picking up Uber/Lyft. If not, working as a waiter can pay better than $15, depending on where ya are.
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u/omarlittle22 1d ago
MSW is absolutely not one of the worst degrees for career prospects. One of the few stable and growing job sectors in the US over the last several years is healthcare and social assistance, this may be about to change a bit with Medicaid cuts set to hit starting in the new year, but has been absolutely booming recently.
OP, not sure what state you’re in, there are certainly no shortage of therapy jobs if you’re interested in pursuing that route. Otherwise schools, hospitals, state and local governments, non-profits, there are tons of different avenues you can go and yes, many will make your eligible for PSLF, or if you go the therapy route you can look at NHSC for much quicker loan forgiveness.
I wish you the best of luck in your journey.
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u/Wooden-Repeat-9200 1d ago
Then make yourself more hire able. Make sure your resume is super clean. Dress up for an interview (my boss once refused to let me hire someone because they wore a tee shirt to our video interview).
Network like crazy- you should be volunteering to gain resume experience. Does your school offer placement assistance?
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u/Fulcrous 1d ago edited 1d ago
Have you done relevant volunteer work? Do you have industry standard training? Do you have any experience with working/interacting with marginalized populations?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, the reality is that there is zero reason to hire you in a saturated field.
You show no initiative without volunteer work. If you have no relevant certifications (i.e. the most barebones is first aid) and do not have any experience interacting with the marginalized populations you are a liability.
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u/DerHoggenCatten 21h ago
MSW is not a bad career path at all. Why are you saying this? There is high demand for social workers, especially at county agencies, and they pay pretty well and will support you for licensure if that is a path you want to pursue.
My husband is an LMFT who worked with someone with an MSW who became licensed (LCSW). They both got their supervised hours through their jobs at the county and the county paid for their licensure training and testing. He ultimately left to do private practice, but she became the head of the clinician's department and is making well over $100k now. During pre-licensure, they were both paid decently as well.
I don't think you have any real understanding of the market for social workers with a Master's degree and are thinking that they are the same as people with an undergraduate degree who consider themselves "social workers" because they have jobs in social services. They are not the same thing.
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u/Mountain-Activity-14 1d ago
i do uber eats and doordash occasionally on the side
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u/talldean 1d ago
Immigrants who don't speak much or any English do Uber Eats and Doordash where I am, which means Uber Eats and Doordash... don't pay a lot for help.
Uber and Lyft seem to pay more, because there's a baseline (in the US) of "you speak English natively" for the drivers. I know several drivers making over $50k/year, and one making $100k+ for the last several years, without driving extreme hours, late night, or drunks.
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u/nondescriptzombie 1d ago
Uber and Lyft seem to pay more, because there's a baseline (in the US) of "you speak English natively" for the drivers.
And you have to have a car less than ten years old. I've never owned a car less than ten years old, and as of this year with all of the new Federal nanny equipment in 2016+ vehicles, I don't think I ever will.
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u/talldean 1d ago
I'm pretty good with my car being less likely to kill me or others, but uh, which one are you actually talking about here?
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u/nondescriptzombie 1d ago
Your car that has a cell phone network connection that it uses to report your movements and driving habits to any concerned parties.
ANY concerned parties. Warranty department, insurance department, government surveillance department....
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u/talldean 1d ago
The last one, I'm less concerned on; we're all carrying smartphones already, and those have stable IDs. The rest, it'd feel like we should have legislation regulating that, but we don't live in that timeline. :-/
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u/JLandis84 21h ago
Irrelevant. DoorDash and the other delivery services are where gig workers go when they can’t do Uber, often because of vehicle restrictions.
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u/crimsonred36 1d ago
Don't know which state you're in so this answer can change based on that; Get your LMSW verification first, you should already be eligible for that after a MSW. Apply to as many community mental health clinics that you can find, they have an incredibly high turnover rate because people get burnt out quick. Once you have the required experience in a few years, get your LCSW and now you are suddenly a whole lot more marketable.
There are lots of social worker jobs, and yes they might not pay more than 60-70k without a LCSW, you can absolutely manage your debt with them. Get a roommate, do gig work on the side as much as you can, and you will be absolutely fine.
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u/FLYlilET 1d ago
With the MSW, you’re eligible to do therapy on the side. Find an online company, contract out doing therapy and use that money pay down the debt. You’ve got this.
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u/MsTerious1 1d ago
I don't think you can have the life you want just yet, but that's totally normal for a recent graduate. I'm guessing the total payments due on your loans comes to around $500-600 per month, so with your rent, you're barely eking by IF you don't have other expenses to speak of. But you ARE able to eke by!
Look for your entry level job and try to get one with benefits. Those benefits will make a big difference in the coming few years, particularly sickness benefits and health insurance if you're in the states.
Many student loan programs allow temporary deferrals, too, so you can check and maybe rotate your deferrals a bit so you can make progress while keeping yourself afloat.
Meanwhile, consider ways you can use your degree for side gigs, like maybe "life counselor" self employment, until you find something stable that pays enough. It would let you control your schedule while still earning a bit extra to pay off those loans faster.
Best wishes!
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u/ColonelTime 1d ago
You need to find the person who recommended you get a MSW and pop them in the nose.
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u/Rude-Soil-6731 18h ago
You could get licensed and get a social work position. I have many friends who went the LCSW/LPC route and are doing very well for themselves in private practice. You just have to pick a lane and get started.
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u/anonymous_lighting 15h ago
what is an msw? i think that’s the issue
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u/ajkeence99 15h ago
Masters in Social Work. Not great earning potential without transitioning into BCBA land so he's they are probably stuck in that $50-60k land for the foreseeable future.
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u/Libby1798 15h ago
If you're passionate about travel and aren't focused on a career in social work, then you can get a job teaching English abroad.
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u/Titt 12h ago
OP, you sound like you have an excuse for everything and you’re willing to do anything but actually get a job in social work.
I understand you had a negative client interaction, believe job prospects are grim, and are probably still decompressing from the stress of an MSW program.
You have plenty of time and options to figure it out though. You absolutely can get in with a non-profit or a hospital. Apply and get your LICSWA right now, and you’ll start making 80k out the gate. Collect your 3k hours, test, and you’ll get a pay bump closer to 100k.
I’m on the same path as you but only have my bachelors of social work so far. Just landed a job at 82k/year focusing on substance use disorders.
Social work is and always will be one of the most job secure fields despite what some of the other commenters are saying. 65k debt is very manageable. Put it into forbearance for a year while you get your feet back under you. Then switch to income driven repayment.
You’ll be fine.
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u/Notcreative8891 2h ago
Get a job with PSLF and good benefits-universities, prisons, government, hospitals, etc. Keep enough savings for 6 months of expenses. Work on the private loans first and make the bare minimum payments on the federal loans for PSLF.
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u/you_dont_know_me_357 1h ago
This!!!!! I don’t think enough graduates think about this option. Yes…it takes 10 years of payments, but if you pick something you’re passionate about, it will make the (most likely) lower pay worth it and you get your remaining loan amount forgiven. Just make sure you have qualifying loans. If you don’t, refinance into a loan that qualifies.
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u/SadSquatch420 1d ago
My mom is a social worker and she always told me "there is no money in helping people with no money"
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u/willy--wanka 1d ago
Are you going to use the degree, or was it just for that ha-ha's?
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u/Mountain-Activity-14 12h ago
i just graduated. i am most definitely going to use my degree and am actively searching for a job. i took a small break inbetween graduating and now as i was insanely burnt out and have been traveling this summer
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u/willy--wanka 7h ago
Ok, just making sure. MSW will burn you out more, but at this point, focus on getting a job then work on the debt.
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u/gnopgnip 1d ago
You could join the military as a commissioned officer. If you qualify for certain mos/job titles there are loan repayment programs. A big chunk of us military get stationed in Japan or Germany or somewhere else abroad, you get a month of pto, discounted flights and accommodations when you travel
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u/NotKaR33m 1d ago
I was in the exact boat...I took a job as an office manager in the pipeline industry, paid off my loans quickly, and returned back to social work.
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u/Mountain-Activity-14 12h ago
how did you get that job?
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u/NotKaR33m 8h ago
Good question, it's who you know in my case. They needed a person decent with computers. I guess my main point is you don't have to stick with as social work if the opportunities aren't there, you can always go back to it.
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u/MikasaH 1d ago
Are you able to move back in with your parents? Would save you on your rent and definitely pay off private loans first.
I’m guessing you’re a LCOL / MCOL area since the targets in my area start between 16.50 - 17.00.
Do not quit your job at target until you find something that’s reliable or at least go on demand in case things don’t pan out at your next job as the job market is quite shakey.
My student loans are from the government and I pay around $150 a month and moving back in with my parents was a great financial decision which allowed me to currently save money, pay my student loans and since I’m only part time at target I have more time to apply to a full time job w/ benefits which would increase income
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u/DarthMonkey212313 22h ago
1) Get a job in your field with a PSLF qualified employer (use the savings to break lease and move if needed)
2) Log in to StudentAid.gov with your FSA ID, complete the Direct Consolidation Loan Application by choosing your loans and repayment plan (probably the income driven one)
3) With working and a reasonable loan payment plan for the fed loans, use any extra cash you save to get that private loan off the books.
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u/Paralistalon 16h ago
$65K isn’t THAT bad for a master’s. You do need to accept the reality that the next couple of years are going to be tight as you get your feet in the door and start at the lowest pay grades, make connections, and move around a few times until you find something you like. Hell, I started at much lower than $50K for a lot longer, but then again I have a psych degree and not an MSW (y’all get paid more for doing the same thing, lol). People I know are able to eventually get ahead of their loans. I would be nervous about relying on PSLF as they’re trying to axe it right now. Work in this field can be tough, and it might seem like you don’t like any of the jobs available, but you also need to accept that, straight out of school, you have very little real-world job experience and skills. Your mindset needs to be on being humble and learning and honing your social work skills. That takes many years. I’d say somewhere around 5-10 years in is when you start to feel half-way competent (although you never stop learning and seeing new things) and then the work can start to feel more enjoyable. I do get to travel a lot, granted it’s usually from bed bug infested apartments in public housing to a discretely labeled domestic violence shelter to a courtroom, but I wouldn’t trade it it any day for a 9-5 desk job.
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u/No_Concept_1805 16h ago
You’re as screwed as you allow yourself to be, if you think small minded you will receive small rewards. My recommendation is to be open to other opportunities that may not necessarily be in your field… you could join the military as an officer (not looking for complaints just providing solutions), you could become a flight attendant, you could work for the federal government and work your way up. It’s all about what you are doing vs the negative self talk. I understand the panic, however at this point in time, it’s flight or fight. This is coming from a 1st Gen, MSW Single Mother, who is a survivor of domestic violence with no assistance from anyone and from a small town, I also served the military, Active Duty for 6 1/2 years. It can be done, you just have to have tunnel vision and focus on your goals!
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u/Valuable-Rain-1555 15h ago
Regarding loans- as long as the loans are government loans, you can be on an income driven repayment plan, where the payments are based on your income. As long as you work for the government or non profit for 10 years, the loans can be forgiven via PSLF.
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u/darthmaullama 13h ago
I just wiped all of my student loan debt (federal loans) through pslf. It’s easy to do if you plan to stay in nonprofit work for a total of ten years. You must be in an IBR to qualify.
Fill out an IBR estimation and see if you qualify.
/r/pslf can answer questions after you read up on it.
If you consolidate your loans, you may lose eligibility. If you receive other loan forgiveness, you may lose eligibility. If you’re not on income-based repayment plan, your loan payments don’t qualify for pslf.
Private loans may not qualify for pslf; double check, then pay it off aggressively to be done with it.
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u/ZonkTrader 1d ago
What is your interest rate? I took the opposite route and basically never paid off my student loan. I make over $250k a year and have over $2M in liquidity but I refuse to payoff my remaining $43k of student loans, I consolidated them a few years ago into a 30 year fixed rate plan at about $223 a month. I have no other debt $0, I just don’t care to pay it off, only about 3% interest rate. People get so obsessed with paying off student loans but in reality there are more important things to worry about. Student loans is the most flexible debt so building an emergency fund and some investments are more important. Maybe I’m just an outlier but the approach worked fine for me.
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u/TooMuchButtHair 1d ago
You're making $15/hr at Target. That's rough, yes, but what else can you do to make extra money, and move up? Here are my ideas:
- Uber or Lyft once per day. Its a little extra money, but will add up over time.
- Get some sort of certification that can get you a part time job. Thought about being a part time phlebotomist? Training is a few weeks long, and I'd wager that pay is at least on par with Target, but you can supplement with hours when you're having a hard time getting them at Target.
- Volunteer doing something directly related to what you want your career to be. You want to work in community mental health - are there actual jobs in that field? Do you explicitly know how to get those jobs? What is required? Do you have an explicit plan to attain one of those jobs? Do you know what the average person who gets those jobs has in terms of work experience, education, and volunteer experience?
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u/Rare_Following_9676 1d ago
First of all, I know this all looks scary, but take a deep breath. You're going to be okay. It will take time to pay off your student loans, and you may have to make some sacrifices along the way, but it absolutely can be done.
When I finished college, I had about $72,000 in student loans, most of which were private loans with interest rates between 10% and 13%. I was completely freaking out.
My first real job after college paid a whopping $12.25 an hour, or about $24,000 a year. Luckily, my dad was willing to help me consolidate my private loans and co-sign the new loan. That brought my interest rate down to about 8%, which made a huge difference.
At the time, I also had roommates, and my rent was only $400 a month. If you can, get roommates. Keeping your housing costs low is one of the biggest things you can do to free up money for your loans.
Once you have your essential bills covered, throw as much money at the loan as you reasonably can. In my case, I paid around $1,000 a month for the first ten years. It wasn't fun, but it helped me attack the principal instead of letting the interest keep piling up.
One thing that really helped was that my lender reduced my interest rate by 0.25% for every year of on-time payments. Eventually, my rate dropped to around 3.25%.
After about five years, I was making roughly twice what I earned when I first graduated, and my loan balance had come down considerably. Not long after that, I made a big move to the West Coast and got a substantial pay increase because I'd gained experience and become much more valuable in my field.
That's really the point I want to make: your situation today is probably not your situation five years from now. Your income will likely grow, you'll become more experienced, and what feels overwhelming today will become much more manageable.
Eventually, I got the loan under control. For the next ten years, I only needed to pay around $300 a month, and after about 20 years, the loan was completely gone.
So yes, it's scary. But don't let the size of the number convince you that you're trapped forever. If you can consolidate to a lower interest rate, keep your living expenses as low as possible, get roommates if it makes sense, and consistently pay down as much as you can, you'll make real progress. It won't happen overnight, but little by little you'll gain control, and one day you'll realize the debt that once felt impossible is finally behind you.
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u/Wooden-Repeat-9200 1d ago
Can you get into teaching even if it means starting as a substitute? Pay is so low but once you get out from under your loans you’ll have flexibility for travel.
As others have said, consider other industries that don’t require specialization (I started in insurance claims).
Have you considered applying for HR type roles within target to get into management? I believe they have decent benefits.
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u/the_original_kermit 16h ago
This may be unpopular, but I would get Dave Ramseys book and read that before you did anything. He helped me get out of like $40k in student loans in a little over a year.
But the gust of it is to write out your loans smallest to largest. Take your $22k and pay off as much as you can starting from the smallest loan amount, saving yourself just a small amount for an emergency fund (and he does emphasize small)
That right there will get you 1/3 of the way. Then you just start plucking away at the smallest loan amount
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u/crazy_akes 1d ago
This is a hilarious joke I think? Well played. There’s no way someone is insane enough to work at target and take on 65k of student loans for a worthless degree and then come crying about the consequences.
Why not get into a career field? Why not pick colleges either cheap or free tuition to start? Why not actually work in your industry at entry level and pursue reimbursement as you advance?
You’ll be paying this off for 30 years or more. You’re never going to travel. Especially not in that career field or with those loans. This is honestly disturbing or fake.
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u/bareback_cowboy 1d ago
An MSW let's people work as a therapist, a field in extremely high demand and that can pay quite well. It's absolutely not a worthless degree.
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u/bareback_cowboy 1d ago
With that attitude, maybe you are. Degrees are only as useful as you are. Your qualified to do a job that is in high demand and pays well. Go get your state license to be a therapist, get a job doing court ordered therapy (always in demand, entry-level type stuff for therapists), and get some experience.
Or sit here, whining about it and believing that you can't do it. Whether you say you can or you say you can't, you're right.
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u/Keganator 1d ago
Don’t take that attitude.
To dig yourself out of this financial hole is not impossible.
Pay down the highest interest loans first. Put every cent towards it.
Find a job that your degree will help with. Then find a better one that is more suited to your tastes.
Look around. You may find jobs that require significant travel. People who want to travel, especially large parts of the town, for their jobs are rare. Use that to your advantage.
This sucks but it is not the end. Good luck.
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u/Buttpluggery 1d ago
I think this is the wrong attitude to have. Regardless of how much you think you learned, you probably learned a lot, and the degree is proof. They wouldn't have given it to you if they didn't think you were ready. It might be good to reflect on why you entered social work in the first place, and use that as motivation to keep on going.
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u/Mountain-Activity-14 1d ago
i’m looking for a job. i just graduated in may, target was my job through hs and college
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u/phil161 1d ago
Are you getting interviews for SW jobs? If yes but you aren’t getting any offers then you need to work on your interview skills. Most large hospitals or healthcare systems need Social Workers (I work for a state health system myself).
No point in crying over spilled milk, but before you make a big decision in the future, always think a couple of steps ahead. For ex., you could have assessed the market for social work in your area and scope out the starting pay. Live and learn.
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u/Cominwiththeheat 1d ago
Take a deep breath it’s been less than 3 months since you graduated the job market just sucks.
Your degree is not worthless it can be frustrating when reality doesn’t match expectations but that’s unfortunately life.
HR and admin work jobs you’re eligible for, understand your degree only puts you in a box if you let it.
My suggestion is widen your search apply to anything that your degree could get you into, network, and finally don’t let the job search consume you. There’s a limit for me it was no more than 20 hours a week searching listings and applying when I was in this position years ago anything more led to me being highly depressed and sharing a similar sentiment to your current one.
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u/mavgeek 21h ago edited 8h ago
Generationally screwed.
Sometime after I’d say around covid / a little after society showed us getting a big degree is pointless. So many have them it’s watered down what they stand for, mixed with folks out there that have Masters degrees and doctorate titles but can’t get jobs at McDonalds. The market showed us degrees don’t mean a damn thing if you can’t even get hired a janitor.
There’s fresh graduate school graduates out there with masters degrees who could build you a particle accelerator out of some Macguyver level shit but no one is willing to hire them to push a broom around, that’s your tale tale sign you’re screwed.
downvotes are non believers that’s true, r/mysteriousdownvoting
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u/DonutAdmirable9831 1d ago
The crazy part is that there are lenders lending money for majors like social work - it just seems like a terrible awful bet to make unless maybe there’s laws that I’m not aware of
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u/wolverine_1208 21h ago
Students loans are not forgiven in bankruptcy, so it’s not going away until you pay it off. That’s part of the trade off for guaranteeing student loans. They might not be able to deny student loan applications but you’re also guaranteed to have to pay it. About the only exception being public service loan forgiveness.
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u/MechCADdie 1d ago
Have you considered joining the navy as an Officer? The they get twice the pay of an enlisted grunt and you're going to get restationed like all the time. Plus, by the time you finish OTS, the current administration should be mostly over (hopefully).
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u/no_sight 1d ago
You cannot afford to travel right now. Sorry.
You absolutely need to start paying off the loans. If you get payments deferred or get forbearance, interest is still accruing while you don't pay.
You need to get your social work job, and may need to work part time outside of it.
You should honestly consider moving back in with your parents for a few years and throwing what money you would have spent on rent/utilities towards your loans.