Update: Goal #97) Eliminate my Student Loans
May 10, 2011 7 Comments
I hate debt.
And if there’s one goal on my list that I feel is the most important to accomplish, it’s eliminatng my student loan debt. Over the last few years, I’ve climbed out of credit card debt, paid off my car, and wiped out a small pile of personal loans. But I’ve yet to unbury myself from the mountain of student loan debt I’ve built for myself.
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When I began my college career, I was in a dire financial situation. Then I discovered an easy way to pull myself out of that situation: student loans. Having that money available without any real effort to acquire it meant taking out as much as possible every semester. I went a little crazy.
When I took out the loans, I was convinced that life after graduation would be different…BETTER! I thought paying back thousands of dollars would be just as easy as it was to get the loans in the first place. I’d have an amazing career and earn lots of money!
With graduation on the horizon, I’ve been trying to pay off as much as possible before joining the “Real World.” And today, I finally paid off all the accrued interest. It’s a small step in the right direction…and I have many more steps before I reach zero.
But I will reach zero.
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That’s a tough one, and I don’t think the difficulty of paying them off is impressed enough on college students. I manged to get through college nearly loan free, but we’ve got a looooong way to go on my husband’s loan for his master’s. If we were making the decision again now, he would definitely not be doing it. Does the Peace Corps offer any sort of loan repayment option like they do for Americorps or other government service?
There is loan deferral for the types of loans I have, but I don’t have the “right” type of loans for their loan forgiveness program. I’m hoping to get a lot of my unsubsidized loans paid off before joining the Peace Corps (if I’m accepted, that is) so that I won’t accrue a ton of interest while I’m volunteering overseas.
I think most people think that they’ll be in a better financial position after school, so paying the loans off will be easy. That’s what I thought, and now my plans include taking a volunteer job for two years after graduation. Not very conducive to paying off debt!
I am impressed at how much you’ve been able to pay off and you are not even out of college yet! Most people don’t get to where you are ’till many years after they are done with their college years.
I’m not most people! ;) I look at my debt at THE single factor that will limit my potential in life. If I’m chained to a job in order to pay off my debts, my options are limited. I want to remove as many limits as possible to my potential. I don’t want to be a slave to a job. Not that I don’t want to work, I just want to be able to do what I love without concern of needing to earn X amount of money just to get by. My plans don’t really include earning a huge paycheck. I want to give myself to causes I believe in…there’s not much money in that, unfortunately.
Eliminating your student loans is a very challenging goal but it’s not impossible. Great job in paying off your other loans,,,, with continuous effort, self discipline and determination you’ll be surprised to discover one day that all your debts have been paid off.
I guess I’ve never been too worried about Student Loans. Like my mortgage, I just see it as a bill that will always just be there. The interest rate is so low, it’s “almost” free money and it really doesn’t count against you for your credit score like other debts anyway. I’m also planning to take advantage of the newish (2007) caveat that states that if you work in the public sector for 10 years, the US Gov’t will forgive you the remainder of your debt.
OOOH those “evil” student loans!
Congratulations on paying off the interest on them!! I am paying off one of my many loans right now and since I am in grad school I am accruing more debt. However, I have changed my attitude about the loans. First off, having that money allowed me to focus on school for the first 2-3 years of my college career. It IS sad that I have to accrue so much debt in the name of the “American dream”. But now that I am in grad school and although I wish education was easily accessible to all–I see myself as making an investment in what I want to learn. If I don’t pay them off…well, it’s not the end of the world. I’m just making sure I at east pay off the ones that I had to get co-signed.