Best Student Loan Repayment Option

[Anonymous]

I've been a student for way too long and have amassed quite a significant chunk of student loan (~$225,000). I'll finally be graduating this May and will be entering the workforce. My starting salary will be $160,000. I'm trying to decide what my best approach is in terms of taking this monster of a student loan debt on. I'm assuming that I won't qualify for any of the IBR/ICR repayment options since my wife makes about $90,000 and has no loans. 

Anyway, my question is whether it makes sense to be aggressive and try to pay off my loan off as quickly as possible. I believe under the standard plan, my monthly payments would be around $2500 and I'd be able to pay it off in 10 years. The other option is to see if I can go with a longer repayment plan (perhaps through consolidation/refinance) with the goal of lower monthly payments. I believe under a 20-year term, my monthly payment would be around $1500-1600. 

The reason why I'm even considering the second option is because the wife and I'd like to buy a house... ideally within the next 2-3 years. But with this student loan debt, I'm not entirely sure whether this is even realistic. Anyway, I'm thinking if I go with the 20-year term, we can save more for the down payment. And once we buy a house, I get make greater payments towards the student loan. Of course, the 20-year term makes me nervous because of the increased interest I'd be paying for the entire life of the loan. 

I'd greatly appreciate if anyone could provide some advice/suggestions. I've made some poor financial decisions in the past but hoping to make smarter choices from here on out. 

[travisr0]

You could still have the option of getting a mortgage with that high of a student loan repayment. The trick is to keep the rest of your utilization down meaning credit cards and other loans and may have to write a letter to the underwriter explaining the situation. With you and your wife income I think you'll be fine. There are others in your situation that have a lot of school debt.

[Pat94108]

You could also try a graduated repayment plan. I just logged in my student loan account (Federal loan) to see the different options I'd have if I didn't want the standard repayment plan and I was shown the following options:

1) Graduated

2) Extended level

3) Extended graduated 

The last two had the most interests. 

Who are your servicers? You should check out their website, the different repayment plans are probably explained there. Yes, consolidation is also an option. Direct Consolidation loan also has a website.

[lolabelle]

Have you been living on your wife's income this whole time?  If so, the route I, personally, would choose is to continue doing that, max out your retirement contributions, and throw everything that's left at student loans until they are paid off.  

Actually, either way, that would be my choice... unless there is a strong likelihood that you'll be in a position soon to command a recruiting bonus from a potential employer that would pay off a sizable chunk.  

(I say this as someone with more student loan debt, a slightly lower salary, and only one income.  If I had a second person earning around here, we would be living minimally and throwing everything at the student loan debt.)