I have been paying my student loan faithfully for the past 5 years on 75k. Earned all my ratings and the economy took a dump in 08. When I first started I was told it was a promising career and quick advancement. Between the 08 housing crisis tanking the economy and the Colgan crash which created the 1500 hr rules I finally made it to my first real pilot job five years later last winter. I am a first year first officer for an airline flying around the country in an aluminum tube with 50 passengers in back. This first year I am on track to bring in 17k. This me being away from home on average 80 hrs a week. I'm paying for my loans, what I can. But to be honest, I am a slave to my loans. I cannot buy a house, I cannot afford a new car. I am living within my means, and I still drive my 2002 chevy. If I had the information then as I do today, I would not be a pilot. I would be a janitor at the local high school.
I know a lot of you are sitting on your high horse and saying anybody who wishes to get out from under their loans is liberal loser. I am no liberal. Maybe having a loan to try and better myself make me a loser. I am also a father of two struggling to make it month to month who had a plan, but then the banker crapped on it. When on the road, I sit in hotels eating tuna fish out of packets so I can save whatever money i have for the next fix on our cars. If bankruptcy were an option I head there, however there are laws that keep me a slave.
At least my job gives me a 500,000$ life insurance policy. I'm worth more dead than alive. Irony in life.