23 Yr Old mom confused about career path...social work or marketing?

[Excessivestep683]

Marketing is a career that requires being able to work in an office first. People are not allowed to work from home until they have "paid their dues". Don't take online courses. First, look at what you want to do. Now, how do you get the certification? Do you go to school? If so, go to a good school. Not a private expensive one, an affordable one. Now with student loans, you don't have to pay these back till you are working. And once you have a job, you can qualify for IBR (Income Based Repayment). So if you are 50k in debt with student loans, over 25 years, you would have to pay 167/month if they carried zero interest. Unfortunately, the i rate will be more like 5%. So the payment will be 292/month. But that is a lot of money. So this is how IBR works. You send in a copy of your most recent tax return. They take your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income). They subtract an amount based on your situation (single mom with child).

So AGI - about 20,000 = X. Then X * 15% = Y Then Y /12 = what the government feels you can afford to pay at the maximum a month toward paying off your student loans. After one year, you re-apply. After 25 years, if you have not paid enough, it doesn't matter, the debt is all forgiven.

So say you make 30k. 30,000-20,000 = 10,000 *15% = 1,500/12=125. So your payment would be $125. So you pay $125/month, and even though it should be 292/month, the government pays the other part. And that entire 125/month is all considered student loan interest. And you can deduct the entire amount for the year off your AGI next year. Now if you get promoted or make tons of money, and say you all of a sudden are making 125k a year, well then

125-20=105*15% = 15,750 /12 = 1,312/month. So then you would just pay 292 because 1312 >292.

So when making the decision, consider this information.