If I were in your situation, I would pay off your loans as quick as possible and be done with it. $14,000 forgiven isn’t that much when considering the PLSF restrictions. And you can save some of that amount just by not paying interest for another 8 years (by paying them off early). I don’t find the forgiveness estimate on the repayment calculator super helpful. Instead you should compare the total (estimated) amount you will pay after PSLF to the total amount you will pay if you make early payments. (I use the bankrate mortgage calculator and just enter 0 for downpayment.) Take the difference and ask if that is worth the limits PSLF puts on your career for the next 8 years. Or the worry about the PSLF program going away without grandfathering before your loans are forgiven.
I say this as someone who is doing PSLF. But I will have a +$150,000 difference between PSLF and paying it off early. So for me, 7 more years is worth all the catches and risks. Especially since it would take me another 5 ish years to pay it off early anyways.
Other thoughts:
1) How is that you have some loans eligible for forgiveness in 2022 and others 2025? Did you work full time while going to school and make payments during school? Or take a three year gap between undergrad and grad school? I just want to make sure when you’re calculating your forgiveness dates, you know that all 120 payments under PLSF have to be made while in a job eligible for forgiveness and while working full time. Also if you have multiple loans be careful that they all qualify for forgiveness. Unconsolidated stafford and Perkins loans don’t qualify. And it’s probably not worth consolidating at this point, because if you consolidate then any payments made before consolidation don’t count towards your 120 payments.
2) Your IBR payment seems high. I have a high income, way more loans, and only pay $425. But I am under PAYE instead IBR. If you qualify for PAYE you should switch - its only 10% instead of 15% of your income (after AGI and etc.) But I guess payments are also different depending on your state’s poverty rate.
3) You should use the payment estimator to see whether your minimum payments would be significantly lower if you file taxes separately (married filed separately vs married filed jointly). My husband and I file separately to keep my payments lower. Under IBR and PAYE if you file separately, they do not count your spouses income when calculating the payment. We compared the amount saved in loans payments to the amount we would lose in tax deductions. Filing separately won out by thousands. Some tax deductions you lose are those for IRA accounts (but not for employer sponsored retirement vehicles) and student loan interest.
