Threads like this show precisely why I advise people against ever relying on government programs like PSLF in particular. They can revoke it at any time, screw up your designation at any time, etc...
I would have done several things differently if I could go back 10 years :)
Congratulations! Now that it's over, what would you have done differently, per the above quote?
Since we're all about the money here, would you care to share some actual numbers?
$72k was forgiven including interest. I paid approximately $25k over the 10 year period. This includes under graduate and graduate school. I was able to offset some costs as I worked part-time throughout my first 4 years. I worked as a GA which paid half of my tuition and also gave me a stipend my second year of graduate school.
The stress of wondering if this program would be in existence when eligible, if I was doing it correctly, and the accumulating interest didn't feel worth it at times. My choice in jobs was limited to stay within the criteria of the program. Higher pay working for a non-qualified employer could have offered the opportunity to pay it down myself in a shorter period of time. I'm thrilled it worked out for me, but if I was at year 1, I would have just aggressively paid it off and made sacrifices that would likely last less than 10 years. Having that realization 5 years into the program or so, I felt I was in too deep and just kept going and was hopeful it would all work out. This was especially true during my time in child welfare.
