Who is the loan servicer?

Side note, what is the degree in? All my friends with humanities undergrads really seem to regret it.

Why did you want to get a foreign degree opposed to a domestic one?

What’s the long term realistic plan here?

If you can’t have a job because of language proficiency, what is the purpose of continuing a foreign masters program?

Never said I CANT speak the language, I meant my current language proficiency is not good enough for high paying side job. I can speak the language just not at the highest level yet

Discover

Japanese language and East Asian cultural studies

I’m aiming to live in Japan, it’s very difficult to land a career if you are not physically in Japan, and graduate programs are much cheaper here than in the states

You can’t just stop paying it, especially if you need more school money from them down the line.

It sounds like you may have just jumped into this without much research. Do you have anybody at home that can float you the money?

It’s going to be hard for an American bank to justify loaning you money to fix this situation.

Can you find a side job there teaching English? That typically doesn’t actually require you to be proficient in the language your students speak, oddly. I’ve had many US students support themselves for a year or two in Asia by teaching English as a foreign language

Pretty much sums up so many students. Let's go to college, never looking ahead at the cost.

What about a low paying side job? Seems like any side job would help here

It’s been a couple of decades since I had a student loan, but they used to offer a forbearance as an option — interest kept accruing but payments were paused. If that still exists as a thing, you might want to run the numbers on whether that’s reasonable for you.

Not paying the loans will cause your servicer to begin reporting late payments, and eventually your loans will go into default. You will still owe the money, but your credit score will be absolutely trashed for around 7 years. A low credit score will make it very difficult for you in the US to refinance loans, buy a car, qualify for an apartment, get a credit card or personal loan, or buy a house.

You could call your servicer and ask about other deferment options, such as in cases of hardship. When you refinance the loans, you could look for some that offer forbearance for foreign grad schools. Idk if they exist but it’s worth a try.

You could take out a grad loan but you might run into the same problem where repayment starts immediately instead of being deferred. You’d have to research your options carefully.

Is this a degree you can get in the US instead? You would be able to defer your loans if it’s a US grad school, right?

I currently am getting one

Yeah cool thanks for the helpful advice

I figured that’s not really a super good option yeah. If I go for another graduate loan it would be from somewhere else, I have a company in my home state that does graduate education loans. I had done a lot of research into it but made the oversight that my loan company while they advertise that they offer deferment for if you go back tk school it has a hidden asterisk that I only found out after through a phone call that it’s for US schools

This same company would maybe let me refinance right now with a co-signer as my credit is really good right now

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Don’t risk ruining somebody else’s credit unless you’re positive you can pay it

The big problem right now is just the current amount I have to pay per month, 500 is pretty insane for me to be able to cover with the conversion rate and a part time job, but knocking it down will make it easier for me to deal with

I’m going to look into it, currently have a job lined up at a ramen place but it doesn’t pay well

I would be able to defer but equivalent degrees in the US are like 4-5 times the cost overall

It is way too late for advice. Seek advice before acting, then it can be helpful.