<prompt> Human: Hello everyone,Ive lurked here for about a year and the resources and advice have helped me quite a bit with getting a handle on my finances. Heres my problem:Three years ago I completed a Masters program at a private university with a minimal scholarship and took out massive student loans. I stupidly was so thrilled to be accepted into the prestigious university that I didnt do any research or educate myself about the financial pitfalls of Federal Plus loans before I took them out. Though I worked part time in school, with the 7.3 FedLoan interest myloans have increased to 90,000 in student debt over the last five years. I have a full-time job ironically at the expensive university where I got my Masters with good benefits but not great pay I make 38,000 a year before taxes. Because of rpersonalfinance Ive finally got my budget sorted and built up an emergency fund to cover 3 months. I have no credit card debt.I am currently enrolled in the PSLF program through my job, and will be three years into repayment come this spring. I am on an income-based repayment plan currently paying 130 a month, which is about 20 over my minimum payment.Looking at my FedLoan account yesterday it hit me that with the income-based repayment plan I am just paying down interest, not making a dent in the principal payment at all. I feel like Ive been treading water for the past three years. Im trying to decide whether I should continue paying the minimum for the next seven years with the goal of PSLF loan forgiveness, or try to pay off a bigger chunk of debt month to month.Part of me is nervous about funneling money currently going into my savings into paying off more of my debt, as the debt is so vast it feels like pissing in the ocean. Even if I was stretching my budget to the max to pay off more of my loans each month, with my current salary and expenses I think I could only manage about 5,000 a year the university I work at is in a large city with high cost of living.I would like to start saving for other things - a downpayment on an apartment, an increased emergency fund, or a small chunk of money for investing, but I dont know if thats the most practical choice considering my debt.Any advice you all have would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.  <response>: Assuming that you remain in public service, why on earth would you want to pay nearly 90K that you are not, by reason of your service, obligated to pay?Assuming that, with both salary and benefits, you could make greater than an additional net of 13Kyear for the next 7 years in the private sector, your best bet might be to find the job that will accomplish that. But if that is unlikely to impossible, stay where you are, continue to work in public service, and use your income to build up a nest egg, instead of delaying that in favor of paying the principal amount. 