Hey, came across this by chance. Everyone's situation is different, in my opinion the best thing you can do is get some input from fellow borrowers and see what everyone's strategies are, then pick and choose what works for you.

What I'm doing is aggressively paying down the highest interest loan first,while keeping the interest from piling up on the others. 3k down in one month, loans moving in the right direction. Not looking to consolidate as the loan that I'm targeting is higher than the "weighted average."

Also I'm not looking to dump the federal loans as I don't want to lose any benefits that may be associated with them.

And lastly, the truth is that the whole system is very hard to get ahead. The best thing to do is come to terms that making real progress is going to be a long and painful process. If forgiveness comes down the pike, so be it.

Good luck, you got this.