Greetings!

I am a PhD Candidate at Boston University who has earned degrees from Columbia and Stanford and also for stretches matriculated at Yale and Brandeis. My current debt load is $198,081 with interest of $31,326, comprised of PLUS, Stafford, and Perkins loans of varying subsidized and unsubsidized statuses. In the department of consumer debt, I have about $8k of credit card debt.

As the end of my PhD looms I am growing increasingly concerned about my debt load and how to manage it given my circumstances.

Let me give you a sense of my present career position and trajectory. My dissertation research is comprised of anthropological fieldwork in Italy, and over the last several years of research and travel I met and became engaged to an Italian citizen. We now live together in Rome and I have legal residency for research purposes, and once we marry I expect that we will remain in Italy and I will pursue Italian citizenship. I’m optimistic that I will find at least adjunct teaching positions at some American college campuses in Rome, and will do my darndest to continue producing books and films. I’m also a documentary filmmaker, employed remotely by a research institute in Boston to produce educational films about their research agendas, and I hope to sell some of my short and long-term docs in the future.

I would like to glean more information from an expert about the scenario wherein I remain abroad and decide how to manage my debt. I would like to know the risks involved in defaulting vis a vis my employment options abroad, how that would impact my visitation status in the USA, and what would likely happen if I were to return to the USA more permanently. Moreover, if I were to publish a book with an American publishing house or sell a documentary to an American production company, would those royalties be subject to garnishment? Basically I would like to understand exactly what sort of limits I would incur through default. Alternately, I have read that I do not need to declare foreign income if it is under $90k, which could feasibly make my income-based repayment negligible, if I have no USA income. But I do not quite comprehend the process by which any forgiven amount (after 25 years of income-based repayment) will be taxed.

Perhaps most important of all: I also would like to know how exactly my future Italian husband will be implicated by my debt load when we marry. How do I protect him from this onerous burden?

In any case, I’ve been accruing debt with a minimum of information or real foresight, turning away from the reality of this debt load because I simply cannot imagine that as an anthropologist, filmmaker, nonfiction and fiction writer, and adjunct or full time professor, that I will (short of some fortuitous windfall) ever in my lifetime be able to pay back all of my capital, let alone the interest. Salaries in Italy are quite a bit lower than in America as well.

I have about a year and a half before I must begin to face repayment but I am trying to think ahead and educate myself so that my debt load is not too much of a hindrance as I try in earnest to launch my career. It is frustrating to think that repayments will be my punishment for graduating, but I can’t stay in school forever. Believe me, I’ve tried, and I have the debt load to prove it! Thus I turn to you with hope for counsel.

Thank you very very much!
J.

I’m not an expert in how default affects people outside of the states, but have you considered the PSLF program? With a debt that high, it might be your only hope in tackling the issue…. for the 25 year forgiveness is not tax-free and can hit very hard unless you can prove insolvency. If you work for a 501c3 college that has campuses in Europe, I would think that would qualify. You might have to work at two places if you are only an adjunct (to bring the total number of hours to 30 hrs per week). Heather had a good post here
http://askheatherjarvis.com/blog/does-international-employment-qualify-for-public-service-loan-forgiveness

Definitely consider it if you want to work in an academic career, and make sure the college is a non-profit entity. (public or private doesn’t matter).