I need help figuring out which way would result in paying the least amount on our student loans. If anyone can help me out, I’d be eternally grateful. As you all know, this is life altering stuff. Here is my situation:

- Wife has approximately $400,000 in student loans from medical school
- She started residency in July 2014 and was approved for Pay As You Earn
- 9 years left of non-profit work for her until these are forgiven
- Her income for the next 2 years is approximately $50,000
- After 2 years, her income is likely to be $200,000+

- I have approximately $75,000 in students loan from my MBA
- I am graduating this month and I am considering applying for Pay As You Earn.
- First payment due in March 2016 so I’ve been told I can’t do much until closer to that time
- My industry is for profit so I’m not eligible for forgiveness until 20 years
- My income this year is going to be roughly $100,000
- My income moving forward is very unknown as I am somewhat self-employed (could very likely be looking at a significant decrease next year)

- We save $4,000 a month right now (could decrease next year) and have not started to pay on any student loans as of yet (her PAYE amount was $0 due to no earnings in med school and my loans have been deferred)
- We rent right now but have a down payment saved for a home (looking to buy 2 years down the line)
- I am investing everything excess of 6 months reserves in a taxable portfolio and maxing out work eligible retirement plans - both in well-diversified portfolios focused on long-term growth
- I’d like to be able to continue to invest while paying down these loans - very high priority for me
- During the next 2 years, we will likely be in 25% tax bracket if we file jointly or me in the 28% and her the 25% bracket if we file married separately
- After 2 years, we would likely be in the 33% bracket either way if I’m readying this correctly (assuming I make 125k and she makes 200k)

My thoughts without the numbers to back it up, time value of money, interest, forgiveness options, etc:
- File married separately for next 2 years to reduce her payment under Pay As You Earn as much as possible
- Pay off my loans on a 9 year term so that all of our loans go away at the same time
- Reevaluate tax bracket options for filing married jointly once she is done residency in 2 years

Questions:
- Is this the right thing to do?
- Should I do Pay As You Earn too and bleed this thing out 20 years? I think in my case that my/our income will likely result in no forgiveness. Will we get eaten alive with capitalized interest? Is it true that it caps at 110%?
- Can I change our filing statuses year to year?
- Am I missing any considerations?

Thank for even reading this. Hopefully, someone has a tool to help! I tried building my own spreadsheet but I got lost along the way.