Ridiculousness @ $202,453.48

Damn!! Did you see that number!! $202,453.48 - ARE YOU SERIOUS???  94% of that is student loans!!!  And the worst part is, is that that is just today's number.  With "capitalized interest" tomorrow it will be a new higher number.  Too bad interest on my bank account doesn't work that way. 

So essentially my law school education was worth $190,306.27.  That's a far cry from the $86,000 salary that my non-profit job pays me.  Perhaps, I should ask for a raise.  Let's see, the company hasn't given raises for the past 2 years, we just had our 4th or 5th layoff in as much time and that includes flying through 2 CFO's and our 401K is currently on the chopping block.  I'm surprised I'm still getting paid at all, so asking for a raise is not even a consideration.  My student loan payments keep adjusting upward (hubby's went from $276 to $933.04) but my salary isn't.  

When I told my hubby about the increase in his student loan payment he just laughed and said, "whatever, we'll just keep paying what we've been paying".  I'm glad he could see the humor behind such a ridiculous payment amount.  I laughed because Sallie Mae is ridiculous for thinking it would actually get paid that amount.  I'm not trying to run from the debt, but clearly, that's waaaaay out of our reach.  And the drones that work for Sallie Mae always say there is nothing they can do since the loan is a private loan and the investors only allow certain things.  This is the exact same set-up that was in place in the mortgage lending industry and look what happened to them (e.g., loan modifications).  With all the attorneys out of work (and even those who are still in work like myself, but who still can't afford to pay) I wonder if Sallie Mae investors will offer some modifications.

What sucks out of all of this is that my parents are co-signers on several of the Sallie Mae loans.  They are retired and are on a fixed income and are from the generation who bow to the almighty credit report.  So they freak out when a blemish to their credit report is even threatened.  Now, I am not trying to stick my parents with the loan payments nor can they afford to pay them, so what exactly are the options that I have left? (Note to self google "fake own death" later)

Dah well, I'm looking forward to Sallie Mae's collections phone calls - all 933 of them.