I’ve got $75K in debt and I haven’t paid a cent in over 3 yrs. Supposedly they will all be forgiven according to Biden. Boomers are such sour grapes 🍇.
Hate to break it to you, but college costs are insane now. Not like in 1985 or whatever when it was practically free. 🖕
None. I took 5 years between HS and College to save up money and then worked full time during undergrad while commuting from home. Paid as I went and even bought a car and graduated with savings.
I made sure to get a job that paid for my MBA.
The need to take out student loans, go away to college, or fo right from HS to college are all myths.
My son will have 10K in debt when he finishes his sophomore year. We took it in case Biden got his chance to bribe voters. Of course it was dead the day after the last elections.
None. I took 5 years between HS and College to save up money and then worked full time during undergrad while commuting from home. Paid as I went and even bought a car and graduated with savings.
I made sure to get a job that paid for my MBA.
The need to take out student loans, go away to college, or fo right from HS to college are all myths.
You didn't learn: Time Value of Money as a m.b.a. student? Person A. Did a 3+2 program. M.b.a. before his 22 birthday. Person B. Took years to Find Himself. M.b.a. before 37 birthday. College/university tuition rises faster than inflation. Person B pays much more for education. Person A was building up wealth in 401k while person B was Finding Himself.
None. I took 5 years between HS and College to save up money and then worked full time during undergrad while commuting from home. Paid as I went and even bought a car and graduated with savings.
I made sure to get a job that paid for my MBA.
The need to take out student loans, go away to college, or fo right from HS to college are all myths.
You didn't learn: Time Value of Money as a m.b.a. student? Person A. Did a 3+2 program. M.b.a. before his 22 birthday. Person B. Took years to Find Himself. M.b.a. before 37 birthday. College/university tuition rises faster than inflation. Person B pays much more for education. Person A was building up wealth in 401k while person B was Finding Himself.
Mommy and daddy will help pay for theirs. For "the poors" you'll need to save up for years, spend 4 years out of your thirties doing college and start your career later, further entrenching their disparity in wealth.
I'm a recent grad and trying to pay off my loans. I have a decent job for a recent grad, making 36k a year with commission in New York State. But I still have $8,000 in student loans and it seems like it taking forever to get rid of them.
Anyways, I'm curious about other people age/loans. If you have none, at what age did you finally pay them off. Was it worth it or are your loans crippling you in life. I feel like millennials make less and have more loans so I'm interested to hear how it's personally effecting people.
*I do realize 8k is not a lot of loans compared to some.
I owe$0 I paid my loans off while I was in school. I went with a ten month program. You start payments in July, and end in April. It's great, but if you miss one payment, you are ntofied by the school that you are not eligible to go forward unless payment is made. It was a great relief for me, since I paid for school myself, and had two p/t jobs during school.
I graduated in 2016 with about $17k loan debt. I had a job paying $60k and also drove uber in some free time. I 'only' had $17k debt because I had an athletic scholarship that covered about $9k per year and I lived in a cheap apartment compared to other students who stayed in nicer newer apartments, saving about $2k per year or $8k in my loan amount. But if I wasn't on a sports team I would have been working during the school year, so the loan amount wouldn't have been much different. I finished paying it off December 2017. When people have trouble paying off their loans in a timely fashion I would scrutinize how they're living their life, what they're spending money on that they don't need. They should focus on getting that debt paid off as soon as possible to stop accruing the 6-8% interest. And don't just make minimum payments, throw whatever you can at them or it will take forever.
Currently have $240k left. Wife and I started with $320k. My wife finished her loans last month so just have mine left. I went to med school and Im a resident currently. Grossing $135k right now, I graduate in 1.5 years, salary will go up when Im practicing. I figure Ill make $7k-8k per month coming out and based on that and my wifes income Ill be done with my loans in 3 years. Monthly expenses about $4k per month.
The way I think of it:
To pay off my loans in 10 years Id be paying $2700 per month for 10 years! Why not get that taken care of in 2 years after I graduate and put $2700k into investments each month for the extra 8 years? Make compound interest work for me, not against me.
Ill have a similar opinion on paying off my mortgage early. When you have no payments you have more money to invest with. Seems like common sense to me. Plus im not struggling, you learn to deal with contentment. You realize materials dont make you happy, but applying goals and accomplishing them does.
300K here. Just paid it off. I always ask myself, would I make this much money if i didnt invest in school? Probably not. BTW, your logic about paying off early could be turned on its head. Why would you pay early on a loan at 2-4% when you could invest and get 10-15% pretty easily? The answer of course is human nature...we never do. Also BTW, if you work for the feds or a state school (like UCLA medical or Ohio State or whatever, ie "non profit") you cancel your loans after ten years. Not sure if you were going into academic medicine. I got 130K cancelled.
The bigger issue is even though its probably a good investment, 300-500K student loan debt for doctors is def scaring a few away! We are runnin' low on docs and this obscene cost is not helping.
Im glad this thread was brought back as i posted 6 years ago---we paid off a total of 345k in student loan debt and finished it 2 years ago---we now have 600k net worth within a 6 year span. pretty cool to think about
I'm a recent grad and trying to pay off my loans. I have a decent job for a recent grad, making 36k a year with commission in New York State. But I still have $8,000 in student loans and it seems like it taking forever to get rid of them.
Anyways, I'm curious about other people age/loans. If you have none, at what age did you finally pay them off. Was it worth it or are your loans crippling you in life. I feel like millennials make less and have more loans so I'm interested to hear how it's personally effecting people.
*I do realize 8k is not a lot of loans compared to some.
Zero. I came to this country for grad school where you get paid to get a degree.
Zero student loans - athletic scholarship in undergrad and traded futures for two years and saved every penny to pay for law school without any loans. I was as poor as poor could be out of high school, and had to fend for myself, but it was a godsend. I learned to treat money well and abhor debt. I benefited from a tough circumstance - reality interceded early for me and the adult members in the teamsters union I belonged to in the summers kicked my rear for good grades and good financial decisions - they were in many cases sending kids to college themselves. It is not unusual for a kid to listen to caring adults over their parents -who in my case were non-existent - helped me a lot.
Think I expected my daughters - very, very good students - to do the same? Heck no. I look back on my past and think it risky and somewhat reckless. I paid for all of their education, including cars, vacations and the like. The prices for their education were absurd, but it was a life goal to pay for them. Again, no debt on my behalf and no debt for them. Yes, they are privileged, but debt is just a thing to avoid if you can. It is difficult to suggest to others to find good value opportunities when me, my wife and kids all attended so called prestige colleges. I am aware of the claims to hypocrisy. Yet that is the best thing to do in 2023. My neighbor (with 5 siblings, two adopted from difficult circumstances) was hesitant to go the junior college route. I advised here to do it, and to very early on find the group of serious students to hang with in the community college. This of course is no different advice than if she went to a four year school, it just is very helpful in terms of avoiding distractions. She went on to UVa and has no debt, working retail to fund her education. I know she would have liked the social aspects of a full four year experience but it made no sense economically. She is today a cybersecurity analyst, and while not an easy route, it can be done. She is engaged too, and the guy shares her views towards debt (a recently retired enlisted man). She is an underrepresented minority, too (I think she is a great and a fantastic role model). This avoidance of debt thing is not easy. But an analysis of the options is needed before signing up for non-dischargeable debt on awful terms.
Graduated with 25.5k in loans in June 2019. Paid off one of the loans right away then the pandemic stopped payments shortly after I started making them.
Now I have 20.5k in student loans and 94k in savings. I'm just waiting to see how the Supreme Court rules on student loan forgiveness before paying off the rest. I'd rather only have to pay off $500 instead of $20,500, but either way I'll be free and clear of student loan debt.
$0, went to an in state school for free w/ academic + athletic and graduated in 2016. Now I make $120k base.
Would I have gone to the same school if I didn't have the scholarships? YES. In state schools are still a no brainer in my opinion.
Same. State school, top 5 public university with full academic scholarship. Graduated 20 years ago, so scholarships were a little easier to get then. Still hard, just less competition and focus on college prep.
My wife had $10K debt and we paid it off with one of my bonuses a few years out of college.
Now I have 2 kids that are 3 and 5 years away from college. I have prepaid in state tuition for one and a pretty healthy 529 for the second. The prepaid can be transferred to the sibling if my first gets a scholarship. Varsity and club soccer as a female freshman, so I'm hoping for the best. Of course, I spend about $15K per year in club dues, gear, tournaments, private lessons and travel, so its not a great financial return.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Not sure why any of you are paying off your student loans. Start a business, buy a home, or invest the money. I have over $300k and don't plan to a pay a penny back. I started a non-profit and in a few years my loans will be cancelled, as long as I make the minimum payment, which is $0. Paying back your student loans is just bad financial advice when there's programs to get out of it.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with not paying back your loans. Before you talk about "oh, the taxpayer has to pay it off then blah blah blah" just remember this country has $31.5 trillion in debt. This does not include the other $150 trillion in unfunded future liabilities. Do you really think your $10k, $50k, $300k in student loans matter? The "taxpayers" owe $31.5 trillion currently and it will continue to increase. Plus, I pay my taxes so I'll be paying off my loans that way. This is why I support cancelling student loans. We will all pay back out loans via taxes (and then some) over our lifetimes.
For those that are mad they paid off their loans and are paying them off when most people will get their loans cancelled, you're just not smart. You work hard, but you're not intelligent. You color between the lines because everyone told you that's how you're supposed to live your life. Well, I can tell you the wealthiest people in this country do everything except color between the lines.