<prompt> Human: Hey everyone. Got a lovely problem here I could use some advice on. Ive got around 80k in college loans spread out between private and government programs. Ive managed to keep things barely afloat for the past 4 years making minimum payments, totalling over 700 per month through SLFC and Great Lakes. The problem Im facing is two fold. The interest rates are only ballooning the total amount so I have not been paying anything down even though Ive given them all I can. And just today I received a notice that I am on a new tier and delinquent on a few months of payments since I did not meet the minimum payment of 642 a month on my private loan through SLFC. Ive got Great Lakes handling one private and then government loans. Im really not sure what to do here. I just dont make that kind of money to balance out this and living expenses. Ive already shrunk down spending as much as I can.  <response>: making minimum payments The interest rates are only ballooning the total amount so I have not been paying anything down Thats not how student loans work. The minimum payment is structured so the loan will be paid in full in 10 years 120 payments. You can sign the federal loans up for Income Based Repayment and then focus on paying extra to the private loans. Once the private loans are gone, start over paying on the federal loans. 