<prompt> Human: I need some advice from the pf community on handling student loan debt. I have approximately 140k in federal student loans to pay for law school these are both subsidized and unsubsidized, but luckily no private loans or undergrad loans. I am pretty fresh out of law school, so I dont have much savings and no retirement. I have credit card debt from 3 years of living expenses while in school, and have a budget to have that paid off in 1-3 months. I currently make a upper-mid 5 figure salary, with potential to increase exponentially over the next 5-7 years. My first year out, I hardly made any money, thus no savings or retirement to speak of. I worked very hard to pay off credit cards which are at 0 interest, and have a budget in place to save approx. 1500 month towards an emergency fund this coming year after all other expenses and spending money. My question in how to handle student loan debt that sits at about 7.5 interest. I am currently on IBR and making the minimum payment based on my income. My understanding is that the loans will be forgiven after 25 years, but I will pay interest on the forgiven amount. I looked into the new REPAYE, but am concerned with the taxincome implications if you are married S.O. makes good salary that I dont want counted against me. Here is my question, do I focus on building an emergency fundsavingsretirement now and make the minimum payments on my loans for the next 5 or so years until my salary increases, or try to pay off the loans now? I know the strategy is to pay off high interest debt first, but my current income just wont allow it. It doesnt help that the different repayment plans are insanely confusing to differentiate. I just dont want to be in a position where I will not be able to get marriedbuy a homeetc. for 15 years, but I also dont want to be in a position where I will be making 250k in ten years and pay 5k a month in student loans. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!  <response>: If you make 250k and have 5k monthly payments, then you are essentially making 250k- taxes -60k, which is still a lot of money. 7.5 is high interest, and probably about or better than what you will get in the market after inflation and taxes. I would consider getting your employer match in your 401k and get 1000 in an emergency fund, maybe a little more, and start hammering the debt away. 