<prompt> Human: I know the basic answers and Ive tried them. Consolidation does nothing to fix the fact that Ive got a pair of 8.25 interest loans festering on my balance sheet, pulling up the interest rate of anything I try to consolidate with them. Although I work as an attorney, I make less than 40,000 per year as a solo attorney...which wasnt my first choice of career, but law jobs are still hard to come by. Graduating in 2011 from a school with an absolutely useless career service office put me behind the 8 ball before I even got my bar license, so none of the private refinance companies are interested in buying my debt. More basics are that Im on a 30 year repayment with all of my loans. If I tried a shorter term, I would default immediately. As of right now, I have never missed a payment, but debt is about the only thing my money goes toward I get pretty far on exactly one suit. I live with my parents, work from home, have a mid-range car that Ive leased and literally cannot do my job without, and spend about 300 per month on things other than debt or required insurances, like gas and clothing. Student loan debt costs me 1450 per month.The only other idea Ive had is to go on income based repayment, which has a lot of downsides in the long run. This seems like the most obvious thing to do, but I know that its just a time bomb. I wouldnt even cover the interest on my loans with that type of payment structure. The balance would swell up and Id wind up on the hook for almost half a million dollars in forgiven debt that gets treated as earned income. I will never be able to pay that, so bankruptcy and tax penalties in the future are inevitable with this plan.Im here because Im out of hope. Its been almost five years and not a week goes by that I dont feel like kicking myself for not committing suicide after graduation. I have no cosigners on my loans. They would just go away if I died. After graduation would have been the time since I still lived on my own and had somewhat alienated myself from the friends I had outside of law school. I could have avoided all this misery if Id just had the guts to go through with it back then. Now Im stuck. People got attached to me again, so Im expected to keep trudging along.I know that the obvious solution to this is to take a nap in my running car with the garage door closed, but I still cant get the courage to do that. My situation looks completely hopeless and has for years, but I need to know Im right about that before I try explaining to the people around me why giving up is the best choice.  <response>: This is not something to kill yourself over. We just have to find you a new plan, since your current one isnt working. If that despair in your voice is real, please contact your local Lawyers Assistance Program My state offers career and psychological counseling. Yours probably does too. Use both.It sounds like you have four years experience as a solo--is that right? Have you started applying for any small firm jobs? Are there other paths that are JD-preferred that would boost your income? What did you do before law school?It sounds like your life would change if you went from 40kyear to 80kyear, right? There are jobs out there that will pay you 80k. We gotta help you find them.There is a way out of this. Soloing is not working right now for you. Lets help you find it. 