So first off, F*** SCOTA. Second, there is an income driven repayment program for student loans that can give you a payment as low as $0 a month. Sorry, I don’t know the exact details as it’s been a while, but after a certain amount of time, the loans are paid no matter the balance left. Feel free to correct me if you know the details.
Now here is where you get creative. The key here is to get your AGI (adjusted gross income) on your taxes down to where you’re not qualified to make a payment. How do you do that without really making less you ask? Well let me tell you:
An easy way to do this is to sign up for any type of gig work where you use your own car. Think Uber/Lyft/Door Dash. Anything you can just turn on the app. If you don’t have a qualified vehicle, sign up using a friends or family members vehicle. It literally doesn’t matter. Once you’ve done this, ANYTIME you go ANYWHERE, turn on the app and sign in. Going to work, store, out for the evening, anywhere? Turn on the app and go. You NEVER actually take a ride/order, but being signed in tracks your mileage through the app and now you can create a Schedule C as an independent contractor which will show massive losses. You now have the paper trail if an auditor comes knocking. You can write off more than enough to lower your AGI considerably without actually doing anything different. There are many things associated with this type of work that are now tax deductible that weren’t with a normal job. Your car loan interest, Spotify/XM subscriptions, a portion of your phone bill, etc.
Don’t want to sign up for one of these things or cannot pass the background? Start an LLC Transportation Company and show a loss on the Schedule C for the next 5 years. The LLC is cheap an easy to start and can be anything. This is very much how many wealthy people avoid taxes.
The whole key is to get that AGI down to almost nothing and get the government, under the current repayment rules, to subsidize the loans. Bonus, you lower your tax bill. Consult you tax accountant to make sure what you write off is legal. Track your mileage and other “expenses.” Just don’t make any additional money and you increase what’s in your own pocket every month.
You don’t have to be wealthy to avoid the taxes and repayment of loans. Just have to use the system that’s in place.