Hello there PF!
I’m so happy to announce that I have officially become debt-free!
In just 5 years, I managed to pay off $66,000 ($48,000 in principal, the rest is interest) in student debt.
I wanted to make this post, not just as a celebration, but I hope this post can help and/or inspire others who are in a similar situation and need help, who are just finishing university and have no idea how to tackle the loan beast or young high school students who are about to begin their college careers and are not sure what to expect.
*Just forewarning, this is a LONG post. *
The Back Story:
I started university at a private institution in the Summer 2009 at the ripe age of 17. I had no idea what I was doing or what I was really getting into; I just knew I was eager to start school immediately after finishing HS to get started with my life.
I’m in Florida, and at the time, high school seniors who graduated with certain requirements actually qualified for what is called “The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship.” There are 2 types of coverage for the Scholarship. the 75% tuition coverage and the 100% tuition coverage. The terms of the scholarship are you must attend a Florida public based university and remain above a certain GPA to keep the full scholarship. The Scholarship can be used towards a Florida private university, but the coverage will be less (I can’t say for sure, but I think the 75% becomes 20% and the 100% becomes 40%)
I qualified for the 75% tuition coverage. However, here’s where it came down to a tough choice. I wanted to study something rather specific. I researched the crap out of the best schools for said program. The program was offered in public institutions, but the success rates in the job market for the degrees from those schools weren’t the greatest, on top of that, I was getting a lot of pressure from my family to stay local, as they wouldn’t really support me leaving South Florida; which withered my choices even further. After much back and forth, I decided to go to the private institution in downtown, as it was much more specialized in the program I wanted to study, had near 90% success rate in job placement at the time and I didn’t care about the cost. I just knew my heart set on that choice and it was final.
The total cost of my degree at the time was maybe $85,000. I went to complete my financial aid paperwork. With my Bright Futures scholarship and (in addition to the fact that my family didn’t make very much, I also qualified for pell grants and such) the rest my financial aid, only covered about $37,000 or so. Which meant if I wanted to go to this institution, realistically, my only option was to take out student loans.
So I did.
Financially, things went smoothly while my time at school. I lived at home, so I didn’t have to worry about rent. I commuted to school, which was maybe a 20 minute drive and I worked freelance and paid internships to make money for my books and supplies and general living costs.
I met with my financial aid officer to get an official clear for graduation. She informed me I owed a grand total of $48,000 in principal from 10 loans for varying amounts and varying interest rates, the highest being like 9% or so. The financial aid officer set me up for a 10-year repayment plan, making minimum payments of like... near $500/month. I signed my paperwork saying I understood my financial responsibilities of my loans and I was on my way.
I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in December 2012. I started loan repayment August 2013.
I didn’t quite understand the true weight of these loan payments would be until those first few payments kicked in. It was after those first few months where I realized what a burden these payments are, and I wanted them off my back MUCH SOONER than 10 years. For a multitude of reasons.
I came up with a plan, stuck to it, and SO BEYOND HAPPY TO SAY I MADE IT!
My Methods, Tips and Advice:
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JOBS -In my experience, school is what you make it. I’d go out occasionally, but I wasn’t a partier by any means. I worked my ass off. I was known as the overachiever (my classmates even made memes of me haha.) I didn’t go to school to mess around. It’s funny, The school I went to... half the students were there because they came from money...Those people had the luxuries of flunking a class and their parents would just give them money to “try” again. Failure was never an option for me. I literally couldn’t afford to fail a single class; I had been given a single chance, and I was not throwing away my shot (reference for all my Hamilton fans lol) I got my first job in my field a month to the day after graduating. Not sure what you would call this? I guess it’s a combination of things? Handwork paying off, really applying yourself and luck haha I guess. Which in the world we live in nowadays is almost unheard of getting a job right off the bat. It wasn’t the most amazing job, but I made a decent entry level salary, benefits and but most importantly, experience. I stayed there for a year, just to get that experience under my belt. Ever since then I’d hop around jobs all over town some full-time, and some freelance/contract positions, with each passing gig allowing my to increase my salary more and more as I gained more experience and learning what types of people and industries I work best with. I may have not loved every single job I have worked, but I was never without a job for a couple of weeks at a time, even having multiple offers at once on more than one occasion.
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BUDGET- Alright, job acquired! Awesome! Now, if Job is King, the Budget is Queen! Track everything you spend, from bills down to minor expenses like gas and tolls. I know there are a couple of apps out there to keep track, like Mint for example. But I’m old school in a sense. I love writing things down, I had my notebooks with my expenses. I’m also a creature of habit, so once I really figured out how much I spend, I would usually stay within that range (It also helps that I’m an introvert, so I don’t go out much.) Once you figure out all your expenses necessary to live, look at what you have left over. In my case, I would usually have enough left over that would be more than my minimum loan payment, and have some left over too for going out to dinner with friends and throw some into savings as well. My budgets usually looked like this: *50% bills/ nessecary expenses | 30% Loans | 10% Misc (movies, dinners, etc) | 10% savings. * As time went on and I was able to earn more money, My budget ratio changed slightly, my Living costs remained the more or less the same, but I had more money coming in...so you guessed it I tossed the remainder of that money at loans. I went from throwing $600 into monthly loan payments at the start of my career, to towards the end of the loan repayment throwing upwards of $2600/ a month in loans. Not only did budgeting help me get rid of student loans, but now that I have learned to budget for this beast, I’m almost ready to tackle anything else after this.
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LIVING COSTS- I feel like I get some dislike for this...but yes, I, like countless other Millennials live at home with the parents. I’m usually the youngest in my group of colleagues, and whenever they ask about my living situation, I get either some dirty looks or some form of teeth-clicking at me; But it is the reality of the situation. My father works full time and pays the house and biils. So yes, I don’t pay rent per se.... but I pay my own version of “rent.” My parents own our house, so when things break, we don’t have a landlord to fix it, that comes out of our own pocket...specifically, half of my pocket haha. I pay for my car insurance (My car, I actually own and paid that in full in the time between finishing school and starting loan repayment) and really anything that is considered MINE (technology, transportation....) and gas and the internet, cable, water and phones for the family. Not to mention, my mother only works part time, so there are times I help her with money when she is running low. My younger sister is in school and works part-time as well, so I help her out with money as well when she needs it. I feel like a lot of people will look at this and think I’m lazy? I guess that’s the new hot trend to label Millennials. Truth is, it’s not. On the contrary, it was my smartest option. I had so many occasions to move out, sure.... but what’s the point? I live in a city in which $1200 MAYBE gets you a studio apartment in the more dangerous part of town. I hate to put it that way, but it’s the truth. I could have moved in with a roommate, but I’m sort of a private person and have social anxiety (cover that a little later) and I would just not feel comfortable living with a stranger and have the potential of drama arising later, and just I’m SO not about that. My family, honestly drives me up a wall at times, but it’s part of the deal I suppose. With my family I have a sense of peace of mind and security. I have always known when I move out, I want it to be entirely on my own. And living with my folks for the time being was the fastest way to reach that goal.
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LIFE- I’m a planner. I love planning. I love being ready for any obstacle so I’m not caught off guard. But in these years, I have learned, life doesn’t care about your plans. Life just happens. There was a time within 2 years of finishing school, I was laid off from my job (risks of working at a start-up just btw) and I genuinely had no idea if I’d be able to keep on track for my loan goals. At that time, I called sallie mae/navient and asked for a different of 6 months, only because I genuinely didn’t know if I’d be able to find a job again. when it was all said and done, I was only with out a job for 3 weeks but it was a really scary feeling and I felt like I got my ass handed to me. That start up job, not only cost me my sense of financial security for a while, but it left me with shattered self confidence. I gave it my all at that job and it still wasn’t enough. I remember working near 14 hour days for months at this place, barely taking time to eat meals to meet deadlines and it was just ridiculously unhealthy. After 2 months of leaving that job, I noticed I had incredible back pain. As soon as I got my health insurance back, I went to a chiropractor, and sure enough, all the stress and being bent over the computer for 14 hours a day messed my back up REALLY bad. I learned it was going to be pretty expensive and a long treatment. I almost didn’t do it, I felt it was going to take me away from my goal of paying off my loans for far too long and I’d just deal with the pain... but a friend told me “Don’t be an idiot. If it’ll better your health. Do it.” 2 years and near $6,000 in chiropractic bills later, I’m happy to say my back is healthy and there is no pain! ...but here I thought, I was doing the right thing by working long hours at that job, and like a domino effect, life threw me that curve ball I was in no way ready for....and that’s just one instance in one particular moment in time.
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HUSTLE AND NETWORK!!!! - I’m SO bad at this. I’m a socially anxious person, not the greatest in social situations. My self esteem isn’t the greatest and I feel I’m not very good at selling myself. I actually avoid social interactions if I can. However there were times that my desire to pay off these loans overcame any of my socially anxious obstacles. From negotiating salaries with employers down to finding weekend freelance side hustles. I would try to find extra money to help me get to my goal faster by any means. I’m still not the greatest at this at all really haha, something to work on I guess, but just think about the power of hustling and networking for a second? Think about how, if maybe I was better at selling myself, I could have probably tacked on an extra $5k to my yearly salary, or if I went to a networking event and could have landed a great job just by talking to someone for a few minutes...YOU NEVER KNOW! This is one of the most powerful weapons at your disposal!
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PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD - This one is a bit of a generic one, but it’s oh so true! Think, if I landed a great freelance gig and made the client so happy that they recommend me to someone else that pays even more, and that cycle goes on and on. Attitude and work ethic is everything! I was fortunate enough to have worked in a luxury real estate company for 2 years in which whenever the company sold a property and made a hefty profit, they would give the employees bonuses. This company has been around for decades, and some of the employees have been with that company since it’s inception. The bonuses were given at supervisors’ discretion, but it was usually based off seniority. I was the youngest in my department, but my Supervisor knew how much work I’d put in and when bonus time came around, she ALWAYS took care of me. The highest bonus I received being $1500 after taxes, and yep, that ENTIRE bonus check went to Sallie Mae/Navient.
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TREAT YO’ SELF - Alright, as of now, I make my tips sound like some crazy strict financial regime. Now yes, I would try my hardest to stick to my plan, but there were times where I would do something for me as well.... you kinda have to, or you’ll go insane haha. As I mentioned above in my 1st tip, I would set aside some money for misc. expenses, like, going out to dinners, movies and shows. Truth is that money was rarely touched because I’m pretty introverted as well as my closest friends, so honestly a beer, some pizza and netflix is an ideal Saturday night...and that costs what? maybe $20 at most. As I started making more money, I learned, I actually really love to travel. And started traveling much more frequently in the past few years. I have visited 15 different US cities, and 6 Countries in Central/South America and Europe. While doing this, I never broke my budget. Traveling on a budget is totally doable, you just really gotta work at it! Which applies to any activity you like doing for fun and makes you happy.
IN CLOSING
I have asked myself this question a lot in the past 5 years: “Was it worth it? Would you do it all over again?”
The truth is, yes I would.
I think choosing to go to the private institution vs the public ones was ultimately the right choice for me.
Not to kiss ass here, but I feel I was taught by some of the finest educators I have ever met, who actually gave a damn about their students, and who believe it or not am still in touch with all of em! They prepared me for a lot of things out there in the real world, and it’s funny I remember in one of my senior classes, the professors telling us, “Everything we have taught you... it’s only a small portion of what’s really out there, and it’s things that can’t really be taught in school.” I remember hearing that and feeling a bit gypped haha, but they were right, in retrospect, there was no way for them to teaching all the things I know now.
Now, “Would I have done things a bit differently?” Absolutely. I would have been WAY more proactive in High School. I never cared about school, but I had some weird epiphany in the summer between 10th and 11th grade. I realized life was coming for me, and coming fast. In that time, I brought up my gpa from a basic 2.0 to a 3.4. Had I worked even harder and sooner, I probably would have gotten a lot more financial aid, grants and scholarships and maybe even gotten a full ride to this institution?
I would have done things a little diffrently in Uni too, I feel I did a lot, back then, Looking back on it now, there are SO MANY more things I could have done, and there are times I wish I could go back and so them! Like I said earlier, you never know where small things will lead you.
In all, getting my degree and taking out these loans was the most expensive risk I have ever done in my life, without even realizing it. And ultimately the risk paid off, and am happy it all worked out.
As for what’s next for me? I have NO idea. I have never felt this sort of financial freedom before. The possibilites are endless, and it’s a crazy world out there, so we will see!
Submitted August 16, 2017 at 09:32AM by MiggleWiggle http://ift.tt/2wPY17h
