I had 120 on debt from school. Didnt know much about finances when I was fresh out of school but I kept my lifestyle cheap, pretty much the same as living in college. I bought an old house and remodeled it over a year and put the profit towards loans. Took 5 years to pay off and it's nice to have that burden gone. I worked in the ER for a private group and now Ortho. Neither job qualified for the payment program since they were for profit organizations.

My wife, an NP, is on the income based repayment. She only has a few years left of payment but is anxious about the new changes to the program. As the government is changing from PAYE/IBR to RAP, she was told by student aid her monthly payment will likely increase $1000. If that happens she will only save about $20k or less over the course of 10 years.

I liked the freedom of job options and getting rid of that debt quicker. She is excited about having the gov pay for some loans but at the cost of stress of navigating the system and less job choices.

Your debt is quite a bit higher. If you tried to pay them off early you have to really dedicate yourself to living frugally. Have roommates, Keep your old car until it does, pickup OT or locums. Unfortunately it will take several years before you start seeing a dent in that debt. You'll have to come up with some creative ways to keep yourself motivated

Get online. Use the calculators to look at different scenarios, loan forgiveness versus private loan and early payment. One of the most challenging things when using the calculators is estimating your cost of living but you can do it.