<prompt> Human: So my girlfriend and I graduated in 2015 from a state university. I made out at about 58k in debt myself, which is above the national average but luckily I make enough to deal w the 500mo payments. My girlfriend on the other hand graduated with over 100k in student loan debt. Initially when her loan went into repayment her monthly payments were 1,400mo. Her dad told her that she should go through a state bank and consolidate to bring the payments down. They are still at 800mo. Currently she is on a probationary period at her job where she is making 15hr and once she is hired permanently she will be making 18hr and will be back-payed for her probation. That being said, even with her new rate her loan payments eat up almost exactly 13 of her adjusted income. She looked into a federal loan forgiveness program but since she already consolidated with a state bank, she is ineligible. Does she have any options that could bring her payments down or has she sealed her fate entirely with the consolidation?Thanks in advance.  <response>: Typically payments are structured that way so that interest doesnt balloon out of control. The only thing she can do is play the long game of increasing income and increasing credit score for a potential re-fi down the road at a lower rate. The consolidation already counts as re-fi 1, so she wont be able to do that again for a while. Welcome to the wonderful world of student loans. She took out way more than she could afford and now shell pay the price for that choice. 