So, I’m joining the service with Student Loans, which I am incurred up to about $50,000. I’m generally looking for advice on the best ways to pay that off and what I can consider if there are any debt forgiveness programs offered to service members or veterans, or anything I should keep in mind with consideration on maintaining a TSP, HYSA, credit card payments, etc.
Advice for Student Loans
byu/No-Professional3800 inMilitaryFinance
Posted by No-Professional3800
2 Comments
A few of the services offer a student loan repayment program. It is usually for certain hard to fill positions. Talk to your recruiter.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness forgives federal loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments. Military, government, and many non-profit jobs qualify.
That can be used in combination with income based repayment programs to lower your monthly payment. Since Military taxable pay is low, some members have very low or even $0 payments. The risk is if you don’t end up serving long enough for PSLF, you just stretch out the amount of time you’re paying and possibly increase the total over time.
Otherwise, Servicemembers have access to financial counselors on base or through Military One Source to help you figure out how to manage your money.
Assuming you have a BA/BS commission as an officer. Officers make about $80k more in the first 4 years just in base pay. That doesn’t include the rest of pays and incentives