Law students have been attending classes for a few weeks now, so there’s no better time than now to talk about the crippling debt they’ll have to face and attempt to pay down in the years to come. About two million Americans owe at least $100,000 in student debt, and according to the most recent figures available, the average law school graduate borrowed about $112,776 to finance their degree.

If you’d like to take a look at what your future may hold, check out this compilation of the average indebtedness of 2016 graduates who incurred law school debt, ranked by law school from highest to lowest, courtesy of U.S. News. There, you will see some truly frightening numbers — but perhaps they don’t seem so bad to you because after all, you know you’ll get a job that will pay well enough to service six figures of debt.

We all were once that optimistic about our law school debt. Maybe you will be able to land that high-paying job… but maybe you won’t. The employment market for new law school graduates seems to have “improved” on its face, but that’s only because there have been fewer graduates to employ. We hope there will be actual improvements by the time you graduate, but even so, you’ll still have all of that debt to worry about.

We reached out to our vast network of Twitter followers — largely composed of lawyers, law students, and legal professionals — to ask them three questions:

1) How much law school debt do you have?

2) Do you think you’ll ever pay it off?

3) Why?

The responses we received varied, with some hopeful that they’d be able to someday make a dent in their debt or completely pay it off, but others (myself included) were faced with the stark reality that they’d never pay off their debts. Here are some of the responses to our questions.

The Few, The Proud, The Hopeful

Way too much. And yes bc of trading commodity futures not practicing law.

$40K, because I chose an affordable school. Yes, the plan is less than five years.

I graduated with about 35k (had a mix of loans, scholarships, out of pocket). I paid it off super aggressively–lived off my husband’s income (and ate lots of beans and rice) and put my entire paycheck every month to repayment and used tax returns. I realize that’s not an option for everyone but my advice is to be as aggressive as you can realistically be. Good luck!

$81k left from prior $180k-plus. Little by little. I’m a ’05 Top 5 school grad. I CANT IMAGINE these kids today and how they pay it off.

82k. Yes. I have a spouse who makes good money as well.

Started with over $100k, 5 years later just under $40k. Benefits of a short-ish #biglaw stint. Should have it gone in another 5 I hope, but I married a Dr and that added $250k to our portfolio, so who knows.

$70K. Paying it off little by little.

About 18.5k. Started w 110k; paying for ten years. Paid extra when I was in biglaw, now I just make the minimum. Figure a few more yrs.

$41k right now. Working on getting a lower interest rate so I am not paying for the next 18 years…

$220k-ish. Yes. Because it’s a priority.

Almost 10 years out from graduation I’m at ~$600. Ask me in 6 months.

$140K in 2003. Down to $30K at very low rate & 30 yr term. Mnthly payment more than mortgage for 10 yrs. 5 yrs BIGLAW

Praying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

70k. And maybe, if I continue my public interest job for 7.5 more years and Congress follows through on its promised loan forgiveness.

$90k. I’m hoping that #PSLF will take care of it.

150 and yes through pslf

$180ish in original principal, now over $220 with unpaid interest. No hope of touching the principal on my pay. Relying on PSLF.

Well into the six figures, but I’m banking/relying on PSLF…hopeful/thankful there’s light at the end of the tunnel

From the Federal Student Aid website:

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.

Qualifying employers include government organizations at any level (federal, state, local, or tribal), 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organizations, and other not-for-profit organizations that provide certain types of qualifying public services. Full-time work in AmeriCorps or Peace Corps positions also counts for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Loan forgiveness under this program is not considered taxable as income.

Debt Till Death

Over $200K and no because of an oversaturated job market

I still have about ~$10K. No.

Too much, no, because it’s so much.

You don’t want to know what [my wife] and I have between Law and Med school. It’s straight up depressing.

I’m likely in the #DebtTillDeath camp. I’ve been paying my loans for 7 years, and have only touched the principal on ONE of them.

About $80,000. I’ll pay it off if I hit the lotto

Never. It’s more than three houses

Over $250K including interest. No way, it’s not even a real number to me right now. Seven years out and no steady employment

For those of you who are on an income-based repayment plan and are relying are relying on loan forgiveness, please don’t forget about the tax time bomb. From the FinAid website:

The maximum repayment period [for any income-driven repayment plan] is 25 years. After 25 years, any remaining debt will be discharged (forgiven). Under current law, the amount of debt discharged is treated as taxable income, so you will have to pay income taxes 25 years from now on the amount discharged that year.

Law students, if you’re planning to rely on the loan forgiveness associated with income-driven repayment, then you should be praying that the government decides to do away with that ticking tax time bomb, or else you’ll likely be in just as bad of a place as far as debt is concerned — unless, of course, you’re willing to file for bankruptcy later in life.

How are you going to tackle your law school debt? We hope you have a plan.

Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.