<prompt> Human: I will be graduating as a professional pharmacy grad student in May of 2013. My loan breakdown is as follows: Health Profession Student Loan 17,000 5 DIRECT STAFFORD SUB 42,500 6.8 DIRECT STAFFORD UNSUB 111,793 6.8 DIRECT PLUS GRAD 10,300 7.9 expected estimated salary: Year 1: 120,000 Year 2: 120,000 Year 3: 135,000 Year 4: 140,000 ...I plan on working in the private sector non-traditional pharmacist career path and expect my first paycheck to be approximately 120,000 annually. I know that a traditional 10 year loan will require that I pay 2,200 a month, which is a lot of money, but I think its doable based on my frugality. First question, should I sign up for IBR? Based on a rough estimate using a financial calculator, I would be paying my loan off over 30 years. This sounds very unappealing to me even with the government forgiving the loans after 25 years - if this is still true.... Does anyone know if I can choose to make overpayments to the tune of 2000-3000 on months where I think its possible budget-wise without penalty? Does consolidation ever reduce the interest rate below just the average net interest rate of all the loans? if I have a great credit score and can put something down as a collateral: such parents home? problem is their homes loan is close to 100 of the value of the home..Anyone have any other insights or strategies?  <response>: live like a pauper for a couple years, become debt free. 