God, loans are ridiculous. I'd be okay on mine if I didn't have my dad's PLUS loan looming over me. That alone eats up about 40% of my monthly income. I checked into the income based repayment because I thought it was a really good idea as well. Just make sure you actually read through what you might be agreeing to. My contract wasn't actually a better deal compared to what I am paying now. Only about $35 less per month plus an extra few years of repayment. I would get about $7k forgiven though, but I'm not making payments for longer than I have to. I want these loans gone! I'm due to pay them off in seven years! (O.O)

A fellow American understands your loan pains, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck sorting yours out. We really get screwed over when it comes to higher education.

ETA. I should probably say that when you apply, they do provide two other repayment options. Even though income based wasn't ideal for me, another was almost attractive enough to change. I know it works for a lot of people. My sister's payment has been $0 on her loans for years and she's going to have a substantial part of her loans forgiven because of it.