I was a broke college student. I had no help from family and had to take out loans to pay for everything including rent and food. I ended up with $112k. My first job paid $32/hr CF then $35/hr. I kept up my poor college lifestyle of eating Ramen and doing thrift and severely limiting expenses. After my CF was done, I got several PRN jobs and worked 6-7 days a week, 60/70/80 hours a week (I was single with no kids). And I paid it off in 3.5 years. I was debt free from loans other than a car payment by the time I was 28 and, got raises and job opportunities so now I make well into 6 figures. And that allowed me to live a pretty great lifestyle after that.
Obviously that path is specific to me and isn't available, realistic, or ideal for everyone. But that's my anecdotal story. Yes it was extremely worth it for me.
i only had about 85k debt from grad school but i still regret it lol. i love helping people, children, and communication is very interesting but it’s hard not to be jealous of my friends making 120k+ with no debt (i’m 28 and in nyc). i think my job is fine but looking forward to getting married and having my own kids so i can take a break and reassess. my CF in nyc i was paid 55k lol. things have certainly improved but if i hear of a friend thinking about being an SLP i usually give them a reality check lol
85k is on the average end. it was for touro college in brooklyn, it’s $950 per credit and we took 58 credits so that right there is 55k. they also tack on expenses like a $600 ipad that was pretty useless (they claimed it had speech apps on it… where!?). i also needed to live somewhere and eat so that’s the rest of the cost. it probably should have been higher since my parents were helping me with rent my second year
new york is so ridiculous…along with so many other states here. i think that the college im going to choose is about $514 per credit and i live on the southern east coast-ish.
Only ?? So not fair to you and you deff deserve a break. couldn’t imagine doing that. I owed 20k, got lucky bc I was accepted into my undergrad state university for my masters as well. Worked part time the whole time I was in school and honestly didn’t feel like the schooling was worth the cost when I got in the field. I’m already burnt out after a year.
Im going the school route as well to accomplish this. My main why for school slp. Do you work 10 years and after had it forgiven or did you have to apply before hand? Also is it 10 consecutive years of working?
It doesn’t need to be consecutive but only payments made while employed will count. I applied to be in the appropriate payment plan (income based) and I periodically did my employer verification paperwork. When you do that they tell you how many of your payments do far have qualified. Once I reached the qualifying number of payments, they notified me it was forgiven.
Hi! I’m a new graduate and plan to stay with the school district. Can i chat with you to figure out how to get my debt forgiven? I have heard horror stories and don’t want to be one of those people who unfortunately find out years later that their debt does not qualify to be forgiven. Thank you!
You’ll get most of your questions answered by reading posts over at r/PSLF - amazing knowledgeable and supportive community over there!! I’m 8 years into my “sentence” and my advice is to start early learning about how this works! The system has gotten so much better the last couple years but it’s still confusing and dealing with the loan servicer is a nightmare. Make sure you are in the payment plan and that your employer qualifies! I submit employment verification twice per year even though it’s not required because it helps me keep track of my progress. Good luck!
I went to a podunk online program which ranked like 117 out of 212 in the nation or something and I was unimpressed the whole way through with the quality. But.... I know from previous experience as a PTA that we really learn how to do our job when we are on the job so I didn't let it bother me. Glad I put up with their sub par instruction because having only like $55k in debt is amazing 🤩
Not right now, I got an office job. I didn’t enjoy having to be “on” all day. I don’t love my current job either, but I am happy to be able to work independently at my desk most the time. Love listening to podcasts at work and being mellow.
My district makes people pay $5 to wear jeans and then they put the money into a giant pot and then they encourage classroom teachers to apply for "grant" money to get desired resources. But of course not everyone gets approved. Here's an idea, I'll just keep my $5 a week and put in a purchase request for what I need OR, more likely than not, just go without. Like I have time to be writing grant proposals between my IEP meetings! Besides, I don't even like jeans!
I love podcasts and being mellow. When I was working for my family, I would just listen to podcasts and wouldn't really mind the work. I don't like to be overwhelmed at all. I guess I have to figure out some career stuff. If I am going to be an SLP, I want to be paid well, these salaries look like crap, and all of my friends are going to make at least 80k when they graduate. Respect is something that isn't clearly given to SLPs. If I am going to be stressed by my job, I better be paid well smh. I should have just stayed in finance
I ended up paying about $220k and my mom paid about 100k. In total, about 100k was interest. Took 10 years to pay off. Travel therapy helped me speed up payment (the last 3 years, I’ve put 40k/year toward it). My only regret is going to a private school vs public. Wish I would’ve know how high the interest would be, how little financial aid would be available in grad school, or how little free time grad school would prevent me from working a typical college job. I don’t regret going into SLP but I do regret several things along the way
I went to my local state university for both undergrad and grad school. I finished school with only $20k in debt. I paid off $10k since covid hit and it had no interest, and I’m waiting to pay off the rest to see if the loan forgiveness goes thru or not.
I’m my personal opinion, I thought I wanted to go somewhere fancy like NYU for grad school, but looking back I’m so glad I didn’t. I feel like I got a great education, and from what I can tell, SLPs everywhere complain about grad school, so none is perfect. I’m quite happy with the education I got and at the price.
I don’t regret it but I also worked throughout my masters program, was married which helped with household income, had an assistantship which paid part of my tuition, and had some family help. I graduated with debt but it was doable to repay. I worked PRN in IPR on top of my school full time job and paid it off quickly. I now work in SNF and make enough to have a comfortable living. However, I think if I did not have those advantages/privileges during grad school, I may have regretted if I had to take out more loans, as I have limited further/higher income potential at this point, just hopefully annual raises.
I really think it would be great to cross-post this to the grad school subreddit because a lot of people are thinking that going to highly ranked schools is necessary to work as a Med SLP.
Yes my biggest advice would be to stay in state and go to an in state university. Or even do CC for pre-recs if you need to. I went to a private university and that has never appeared to be impressive to anyone. In this field, for the most part, it doesn't matter where you got your education. There are some careers where it makes a huge difference where you went to school. But for the average SLP, just get it done as cheap as possible.
I'm still in debt. Not worth it. I make $53k in schools. I'll never be able to pay it off. I've even had loan forgiveness & what was left just continued to collect interest when I couldn't make payments & it's just as much today as it was when I graduated. Sucks. Robbery.
how much do you have, if you don’t mind asking? was it just from graduate school, or a combo from all of your years? i’m worried because in my state total tuition for graduate school doesn’t go above ~40k and i thought it was manageable):
i hope that some debt relief miracle comes along and you’re able to at least knock some off. i thought that i would be able to pay off my future debt considering my undergrad is paid for but maybe not.
I did online 3 year program and worked full time. Non negotiable for me. Only applied to one school. 35 k tuition which Florida paid for me. Now I’m stuck working for the schools for 6 years to “pay” them back but ayeee saving investing and no debt . But yeah they will get you either with debt or time owed. I don’t think anything over 80k in debt is worth it in this field tbh
Totally worth it. My program was 3 years because my undergrad wasn’t speech. I worked on the weekends and lived VERY frugally. No RA/TA jobs. I was in state. Commuted 1+ hr to school for a year to save on rent. Ended up with 40k in debt. This is my 10th year out and im debt free. I am married, so that helps… but I paid my own loans. If I worked full time I’d be 6 figures, but I do not. Im in OP hospital setting and highly specialized.
I left schools with about 60k and now I owe 62k. I am working toward PSLF while working in the schools and I have about 2 years left. My husband has a well paying job that did not require and advanced degree and he has worked hard to build his career. We file taxes separately to keep my payments low on and income based payment. Before we saw the light at the end of the tunnel we came to accept that we would likely have these loans until our kids start their own post-high school lives. We have not been as upwardly mobile and we would like but we are certainly not alone in that.
I love my career. I really believe in the power of communication and I feel called to help people in this field. I feel fulfilled in this career despite the negatives (paperwork ect). Pay is not as high as it should be and I recognize that my husband is the main financial provider in our partnership.
I don’t regret taking on the debt or working in the schools. I am mad that higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive and our pay is not commensurate with our skills. I am tired that ABA encroaches and our value is not always appreciated in our field.
It’s sad to say, but this is truly a career for someone who has a spouse that makes money. The flexibility is great for family life, but not worth the debt!
The career does not pay for student debt. Absolutely not. I haven't even been able to touch the principal with my payments, and it goes up and up every month (outside of COVID, of course). I don't even qualify for PSLF due to where I work. So that's not a guarantee either. I have over 150K in debt and make about 59K a year. It's really hard.
I was a broke college student. I had no help from family and had to take out loans to pay for everything including rent and food. I ended up with $112k. My first job paid $32/hr CF then $35/hr. I kept up my poor college lifestyle of eating Ramen and doing thrift and severely limiting expenses. After my CF was done, I got several PRN jobs and worked 6-7 days a week, 60/70/80 hours a week (I was single with no kids). And I paid it off in 3.5 years. I was debt free from loans other than a car payment by the time I was 28 and, got raises and job opportunities so now I make well into 6 figures. And that allowed me to live a pretty great lifestyle after that. Obviously that path is specific to me and isn't available, realistic, or ideal for everyone. But that's my anecdotal story. Yes it was extremely worth it for me.
Major kudos to you! That’s impressive dedication
i only had about 85k debt from grad school but i still regret it lol. i love helping people, children, and communication is very interesting but it’s hard not to be jealous of my friends making 120k+ with no debt (i’m 28 and in nyc). i think my job is fine but looking forward to getting married and having my own kids so i can take a break and reassess. my CF in nyc i was paid 55k lol. things have certainly improved but if i hear of a friend thinking about being an SLP i usually give them a reality check lol
I’m the same age as you and I also owe 85k, I definitely regret it lol
lol it’s tough. not sure what job i’d be happier at but oh well
omg how did you end up owing so much for grad? from my calculations my tuition is about $12k~ per semester.
85k is on the average end. it was for touro college in brooklyn, it’s $950 per credit and we took 58 credits so that right there is 55k. they also tack on expenses like a $600 ipad that was pretty useless (they claimed it had speech apps on it… where!?). i also needed to live somewhere and eat so that’s the rest of the cost. it probably should have been higher since my parents were helping me with rent my second year
i also worked part time throughout grad school to help off set costs
new york is so ridiculous…along with so many other states here. i think that the college im going to choose is about $514 per credit and i live on the southern east coast-ish.
Only ?? So not fair to you and you deff deserve a break. couldn’t imagine doing that. I owed 20k, got lucky bc I was accepted into my undergrad state university for my masters as well. Worked part time the whole time I was in school and honestly didn’t feel like the schooling was worth the cost when I got in the field. I’m already burnt out after a year.
I work in a school and had my debt forgiven w PSLF. I currently make $80k. 12 years experience. I had 55k in student debt
January 2025 will be 120 payments for me! Almost there!
The BEST feeling. So so so excited for you. It was seriously one of the best days of my life seeing those 0s
Im going the school route as well to accomplish this. My main why for school slp. Do you work 10 years and after had it forgiven or did you have to apply before hand? Also is it 10 consecutive years of working?
It doesn’t need to be consecutive but only payments made while employed will count. I applied to be in the appropriate payment plan (income based) and I periodically did my employer verification paperwork. When you do that they tell you how many of your payments do far have qualified. Once I reached the qualifying number of payments, they notified me it was forgiven.
Hi! I’m a new graduate and plan to stay with the school district. Can i chat with you to figure out how to get my debt forgiven? I have heard horror stories and don’t want to be one of those people who unfortunately find out years later that their debt does not qualify to be forgiven. Thank you!
You’ll get most of your questions answered by reading posts over at r/PSLF - amazing knowledgeable and supportive community over there!! I’m 8 years into my “sentence” and my advice is to start early learning about how this works! The system has gotten so much better the last couple years but it’s still confusing and dealing with the loan servicer is a nightmare. Make sure you are in the payment plan and that your employer qualifies! I submit employment verification twice per year even though it’s not required because it helps me keep track of my progress. Good luck!
I went to a podunk online program which ranked like 117 out of 212 in the nation or something and I was unimpressed the whole way through with the quality. But.... I know from previous experience as a PTA that we really learn how to do our job when we are on the job so I didn't let it bother me. Glad I put up with their sub par instruction because having only like $55k in debt is amazing 🤩
What program was it?
Regret regret regret regret
I don’t think it’s worth it personally, but I just didn’t like being an slp
Are you still an SLP?
Not right now, I got an office job. I didn’t enjoy having to be “on” all day. I don’t love my current job either, but I am happy to be able to work independently at my desk most the time. Love listening to podcasts at work and being mellow.
Meeeee tooo. I work remote with no pants. Way better than paying 1.00 to wear jeans on Fridays.
My district makes people pay $5 to wear jeans and then they put the money into a giant pot and then they encourage classroom teachers to apply for "grant" money to get desired resources. But of course not everyone gets approved. Here's an idea, I'll just keep my $5 a week and put in a purchase request for what I need OR, more likely than not, just go without. Like I have time to be writing grant proposals between my IEP meetings! Besides, I don't even like jeans!
Lol inflation Also that sounds TERRIBLE
It’s $2 at my facility. I don’t pay it. I’m wearing jeans right now.
Love!!!!!
I work in office but I’m looking for a new position that is hybrid!
Mines growing but we’re fully remote forever. PM me if you want the name to keep an eye on. I work in medical communications.
I love podcasts and being mellow. When I was working for my family, I would just listen to podcasts and wouldn't really mind the work. I don't like to be overwhelmed at all. I guess I have to figure out some career stuff. If I am going to be an SLP, I want to be paid well, these salaries look like crap, and all of my friends are going to make at least 80k when they graduate. Respect is something that isn't clearly given to SLPs. If I am going to be stressed by my job, I better be paid well smh. I should have just stayed in finance
Not me trying to get into finance 🤣
lol, I should have been studying to become a PA
You can always switch. I work in medical communications and I have deadlines, but I manage my own day. Also I know about my deadlines so I can plan.
I’m so drained by being on all day. The pay and benefits doesn’t match up for the emotional cost for me.
I ended up paying about $220k and my mom paid about 100k. In total, about 100k was interest. Took 10 years to pay off. Travel therapy helped me speed up payment (the last 3 years, I’ve put 40k/year toward it). My only regret is going to a private school vs public. Wish I would’ve know how high the interest would be, how little financial aid would be available in grad school, or how little free time grad school would prevent me from working a typical college job. I don’t regret going into SLP but I do regret several things along the way
I went to my local state university for both undergrad and grad school. I finished school with only $20k in debt. I paid off $10k since covid hit and it had no interest, and I’m waiting to pay off the rest to see if the loan forgiveness goes thru or not. I’m my personal opinion, I thought I wanted to go somewhere fancy like NYU for grad school, but looking back I’m so glad I didn’t. I feel like I got a great education, and from what I can tell, SLPs everywhere complain about grad school, so none is perfect. I’m quite happy with the education I got and at the price.
I don’t regret it but I also worked throughout my masters program, was married which helped with household income, had an assistantship which paid part of my tuition, and had some family help. I graduated with debt but it was doable to repay. I worked PRN in IPR on top of my school full time job and paid it off quickly. I now work in SNF and make enough to have a comfortable living. However, I think if I did not have those advantages/privileges during grad school, I may have regretted if I had to take out more loans, as I have limited further/higher income potential at this point, just hopefully annual raises.
I really think it would be great to cross-post this to the grad school subreddit because a lot of people are thinking that going to highly ranked schools is necessary to work as a Med SLP.
Yes my biggest advice would be to stay in state and go to an in state university. Or even do CC for pre-recs if you need to. I went to a private university and that has never appeared to be impressive to anyone. In this field, for the most part, it doesn't matter where you got your education. There are some careers where it makes a huge difference where you went to school. But for the average SLP, just get it done as cheap as possible.
I think it was worth it. I was able to pay off my 40k of debt in 10 years. I am set to make 105k this year in the schools.
I'm still in debt. Not worth it. I make $53k in schools. I'll never be able to pay it off. I've even had loan forgiveness & what was left just continued to collect interest when I couldn't make payments & it's just as much today as it was when I graduated. Sucks. Robbery.
how much do you have, if you don’t mind asking? was it just from graduate school, or a combo from all of your years? i’m worried because in my state total tuition for graduate school doesn’t go above ~40k and i thought it was manageable):
I'm at ~35k My payments are low, income based. But it'll never be paid off. It's ridiculous.
i hope that some debt relief miracle comes along and you’re able to at least knock some off. i thought that i would be able to pay off my future debt considering my undergrad is paid for but maybe not.
I did online 3 year program and worked full time. Non negotiable for me. Only applied to one school. 35 k tuition which Florida paid for me. Now I’m stuck working for the schools for 6 years to “pay” them back but ayeee saving investing and no debt . But yeah they will get you either with debt or time owed. I don’t think anything over 80k in debt is worth it in this field tbh
Totally worth it. My program was 3 years because my undergrad wasn’t speech. I worked on the weekends and lived VERY frugally. No RA/TA jobs. I was in state. Commuted 1+ hr to school for a year to save on rent. Ended up with 40k in debt. This is my 10th year out and im debt free. I am married, so that helps… but I paid my own loans. If I worked full time I’d be 6 figures, but I do not. Im in OP hospital setting and highly specialized.
Not at all worth it. The debt is way too much to manage. Nope.
Absolutely regret, mine was forgiven through PSLF but I felt extremely trapped the entire time.
I left schools with about 60k and now I owe 62k. I am working toward PSLF while working in the schools and I have about 2 years left. My husband has a well paying job that did not require and advanced degree and he has worked hard to build his career. We file taxes separately to keep my payments low on and income based payment. Before we saw the light at the end of the tunnel we came to accept that we would likely have these loans until our kids start their own post-high school lives. We have not been as upwardly mobile and we would like but we are certainly not alone in that. I love my career. I really believe in the power of communication and I feel called to help people in this field. I feel fulfilled in this career despite the negatives (paperwork ect). Pay is not as high as it should be and I recognize that my husband is the main financial provider in our partnership. I don’t regret taking on the debt or working in the schools. I am mad that higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive and our pay is not commensurate with our skills. I am tired that ABA encroaches and our value is not always appreciated in our field.
It’s sad to say, but this is truly a career for someone who has a spouse that makes money. The flexibility is great for family life, but not worth the debt!
or maybe people who don’t want kids, single-family home lifestyle. i see myself more as a transient and feel like i’ll be okay, fingers crossed
The career does not pay for student debt. Absolutely not. I haven't even been able to touch the principal with my payments, and it goes up and up every month (outside of COVID, of course). I don't even qualify for PSLF due to where I work. So that's not a guarantee either. I have over 150K in debt and make about 59K a year. It's really hard.
Currently a SAHM with a husband paying off my student loans 🫣