He works 3 jobs and may have to drain his retirement to afford a $600 student-loan payment surge

Luke Helton said he may have to dig into his retirement savings to afford his higher student-loan payments. Jessica Tezak; Alyssa Powell/BI Luke Helton realized too late that he rushed into law school. After taking out $80,000 in student loans for undergrad at the University of Tennessee, he thought going straight for his J.D. would propel him into a stable career. So he borrowed more to make that happen. Personal life challenges derailed his final year, and he failed the bar exam. By the time he realized that law might not have been the best path for him, his student loan balance had grown to $119,000 — plus another $103,000 his stepdad took out on his behalf, but that he is paying for. Helton, 33, now works three jobs: a 9-to-5 in IT, part-time at Best Buy, and DoorDash on the side.