I am a first generation college graduate. I went to XXXX University ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX Medical Center ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) for my XXXX. I was able to get some federal grants and loans, but not enough to cover the costs of tuition. To cover the rest, I had to take out private loans. When my parents and I called XXXX for info on how much money I would need, they told me it would be easier to take $ XXXX out. Not knowing anything about college and loans, I fell into the trap and took out $ XXXX to pay for school, books, etc. I ended up taking out $ XXXX total for all of my schooling through XXXX and I have the federal student loans as well ( $ XXXX ). After graduating school I started repaying all of my student loans. I had just graduated and was n't making that much money. There were times I could n't afford to eat after paying my student loan that month. I used to beg XXXX for some sort of assistance and every time they would tell me there was nothing they could do, and I should have thought about this before taking all this money out, OR I should n't have gone to school. This was completely different from what they were saying before, when I was trying to get the money for school. I was using credit cards to pay them and was in complete debt and just starting my career. I did n't know what to do. I would call the Department of Education about my federal loans, but there was nothing that they could do because they did n't consider the monthly cost of private loans. I was paying {$2100.00} a month on a $ XXXX salary. I was quickly hitting rock bottom with my finances and trying to finding something, anything, that could give me a little relief with the payments. I was honestly trying to pay with every penny I had and not skip payments and go bankrupt. No matter how many times I called, XXXX wanted the full amount. I did n't know what to do and had been laid off. I finally had hit rock bottom. I do n't know how I found this blog from a guy in the same situation as me, since I had been searching online for some sort of relief for many years, but I did. He spoke about calling XXXX 's collection department to get an IBR plan, so I did and I got it with only 1 % interest rate. This was great since I was out of work and could put that money towards gas to make it to interviews and bills that were falling behind. Things seem to be turning around, then my loan was switched to Navient. When I tried to work with them they were rude, just like XXXX telling me I should n't have gone to school if I could n't afford it and the manager threatened to take me off the plan if I complained anymore about the rate substantially increasing. She told me that I should n't have bought a house, that I should sell my car, and I should n't have bought a ring ( I was getting engaged ). The items she referenced that I " should n't have done, '' I did before the IBR plan. After telling her that this was n't affordable, she told me that I should be grateful to be on it and that she could take me off it at anytime. My current student loan payments monthly are {$1700.00}, which includes Federal loan amounts and my XXXX loan ( $ XXXX/month ). This sounds great compared to the {$2100.00} I was paying, but if my federal loans increase yearly, and Navient decides to increase at whatever percentage they feel is necessary, I will be back to struggling on how to pay. For years I had been begging these companies for assistance, and had gotten nowhere. I had to find it in an article, ask for it, then they threatened that they could take it away from me ( like they gave me a gift ). For my federal loans, it 's not worth going on the assistance programs because they do n't take into account the private loans, so the payment is extremely high. This is not right. Something needs to be done.