I'm blessed to have finally gotten to pay mine off, even if I didn't have the entire amount I'd always pay something & give a courtesy call, I didn't know exactly how much it helped at the time but come to find out it must of done something because I was still able to pay it off a bit early during the month if I had extra I'd put it toward my student loan even if I'd paid the amount asked for. I think that,with always making somekind of payment and not having the payments late must have helped, oh along with extra when I could.

I’m currently in College Bachelor Of Social Work and I’ve never experienced that but I’m aware you should utilize the method in how to budget while your paying that’s my logic

Definitely check out deferment options

See if u can use the deferred payments and while doing so pay as much as u can budget towards the loan even while deferred. I was able to pay mine ..over 16000 off in 1.5yrs vs 3yrs every little avenue helps