My husband will enroll in graduate school full time in 2014 and we will be a single-income household for two years.  We would like to reduce our expenses so that we do not have to take out any (more) student loans when he returns to school. 

We have about 675/month of Federal student loan debt, comprised of three separate “consolidated” Federal loans.  They are from three different time periods so the ultimate re-pay dates are six years on one and almost 20 years on another.  Our AGI will be no more than 40,000 (and probably less) for the two years while he is in school full time.  We are a family of three. 

My question is whether applying for IBR while my husband in school will have a significant impact when he graduates and our household income prices us out of the reduced payments of IBR?  Can we resume the payment schedule we had before and still pay off the loans at the same rate as before?  Is the only penalty for going on the program and then back off the interest that accrues while we are on IBR and the delayed payments towards principal?

Thank you,