<prompt> Human: Im in a pickle with how to handle all of my loans, and its a complicated picture. Im looking for advice. Sorry for the long post, tl;dr at the bottom. I have 325,000 in school debt. Went to expensive schools, made some bad decisions, but I have a masters degree and Im about 1 year into a job earning 50kyr. The breakdown is as follows:Sallie Mae Private Loans:25.7k 13.2519.5k 717.8k 4.7534k 3.7511k 1.62Other private loans:UAS - 37k 6Perkins - 11k 5 1.8k 5Im currently making payments on all of these and focusing on the 13.25. But I have quite a few federal loans all on IBR with 0 monthly minimums through Feb 2015. They are as follows:111k 7.9, 3 Direct loans34.5k 6.8, 7 different loans from 1.3k to 8.5k6.75k 6, 2 loans4.5k 5.68.25k 4.5So, Im currently not paying anything on my federal loans, Im throwing all my income at the 13.25 to get as low as possible before these DO kick in. I will be using my 2013 taxes to re-apply for IBR in Feb, and I only earned about 17k in that year, so Im hoping itll be fairly low monthly payments. I take home just over 3k a month. My private loans alone require about 1,100 a month minimum payments. Im adding an extra 300-400 to the 13.25 loan and thats about all I can afford for the time being. My rent is 750 - NYC - and the rest is tied up in other expenses. Every day that goes by, Im 65 further in the hole, and its wearing on me. Ive only been making payments for about a year, and my debt is 6.5 times higher than my income. I tried to consolidate with SoFi but they rejected me. Im assuming Ill get that from most other places as well. tl;dr - Been paying for 1 year. My loans are a huge burden. Paying on all private loans now, but ignoring federal for the time being. What I need to know is, should I try to start making payments on some of my federal loans? Or is it better to continue throwing all I can at my highest interest loan and then focus on others when its down to a reasonable sizeeliminated? Am I overlooking a better strategy? Edit: formattingAssistant: You need to find a higher paying job. You dont get a masters degree to get a job making only 50kyear. Human: I am searching for better jobs, or even a PT job. Im especially looking for a city government job, but they dont come along as often as others. That way Id be able to get PSLF too. I have a background in GIS mapping and urban planning from a good school, so Im keeping an eye out. Im also supposed to get some kind of a raise in September, but I doubt itll be a huge help.Assistant: That way Id be able to get PSLF tooThis is a good plan. Go for a medium-sized city. Many like mine have centralized GIS services, and planning departments will be hiring soon given the uptick in construction. Another year or so. Go somewhere fast growing.If youre thinking government, stop thinking location. Go where the jobs are.Human: You have a good point. I feel attached to NY, Ive been here for a while and I dont want to leave. But it looks like I dont have many options. And I could definitely go for some cheaper cost-of-living. Problem is, I dont want to have to worry with a car. I obviously cant afford it. So that limits me to, what, Chicago, SF, DC and whatever handful of other cities I can get around by walking in? I grew up in PA and public transit just isnt an option there. And biking? Maybe, but what about bad weather?  <response>: There is definitely more than a handful of cities with good public transportation. Ive lived in California most of my life the Bay AreaLA probably isnt an option for you considering the cost of living and each city Ive lived in has had a pretty comprehensive bus network. I lived without a car for six years in San Luis Obispo, CA, a college town of 50,000 people. I currently live in a metro area of about 2.5 million and my rent for an entire apartment to myself is lower than your share of rent.It sounds like youre trying to compare the largest city in the US with a rural area where everyone drives, yet most small cities will at least have a bus network that is capable of taking you from one side of town to the other. You might have to do a little bit more walking or biking, but that seems like a good enough excuse to drop that 10month gym membership. Getting to other cities is a bit more difficult, those are one-off situations, and worst-case, you can always ask a friend with a car for help. You have the potential to cut your largest non-loan expense in half here. You just have to go find it. You can find a way to make everything else work after that, because you simply have to. 