Think you’ll be carrying the student loan monkey on your back forever? Maybe—but it’s not inevitable. Here are stories of five people who went to extreme measures to pay off huge student loan debt in lightning-fast time.

Want a set-it-and-forget-it way to make more money? Obviously the answer is yes—and thanks to the Internet, there are more ways to do this than ever.

Here are a few totally legit ideas people actually use to earn supplemental or primary income.

If you're banking on student loan forgiveness, we have some seriously bad news: Your chances of getting your loans forgiven through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) are slim.

According to recent audit by Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has denied 99% of the PSLF applications that came in over the past year. Why all the denials? A mix of reasons, including:

• Borrowers who are not actually eligible for PSLF
• Borrowers who have not yet made 120 qualifying payments
• Borrowers who were on the wrong repayment plan, and
• Errors on applications.

Play a trivia game and get your student loans paid off. It sounds too good to be true, right? But for some people, this actually happened.

Yeah, we know—we didn’t believe it either. So we did a deep-dive into Givling. The fast take: Yes, it can help you pay off your student loans, but it's not a magic bullet. You'll need some time and patience to reach your own own payoff.

Dying for student loan debt relief? Sure, you can put those loans in deferment or forbearance, but both of those options have major drawbacks.

It’s way better just to get your loan forgiven or have someone else pay it off for you. And if you're interested in that (because who isn't?), you've come to the right place. Get ready—this is the largest guide to student loan debt relief we've ever assembled.

Born sometime in the 1980s? Feel like no matter how hard you try, the debt monkey is never getting off your back? Constantly feeling like your checking account has, oh … about 34% less money in it than you expected?

It’s not your imagination. People from every generation are struggling with debt these days. But there’s research to suggest that those born in the 1980s have it particularly hard.