I am currently deployed with the National Guard, and will return with about $29k, maybe a bit more at the end.
I have $15k in student loans, that being my only debt, and I won't have to take any more out as I get free tuition now. With housing prices being so obscenely high, I'm wondering whether it might be wise to only pay some of my loans, so that I have some cushion to get me through my last 15 months of college.
I'll be making about $1500 a month between my GI Bill and my national guard paycheck while I'm back in school, and I plan on getting a part-time job (maybe 10 hours a week, so $600 a month or so?). I'll call it $2000 even, which is exactly what I could expect to pay in rent.
I am firm on not wanting roommates. Fortunately, I own my truck outright, so all my other bills would be about another $500. Barebones expenses, I'm about $500 in the red. That's not having adventures with friends, flying down to see my elderly grandparents at some point, and going out on dates and such. All life experiences I want to have my senior year.
I guess my question is how do I balance what is financially sensible, with enjoying a moment of my life I'll miss one day? I know from a financial standpoint, I should just eat beans and rice, rice and beans, but I also know I'll kick myself later in life if I don't take that trip with the boys to the beach on spring break, and fly down and see my grandpa before he passes away, and take that girl in my English class on a date. All those things cost money.
Thoughts? This is my only debt whatsoever. I'm thinking maybe pay half of it off. I'd still have $22k or so in savings.
Edit: forgot to mention. $1200 of my income is variable. I only get it while I'm in school. If I take next summer off like I was planning, I don't receive the $1200, and months with breaks like December I'd only get the prorated amount (in December's case 50%, or $600)
Submitted July 17, 2021 at 09:23AM by berrin1223 https://ift.tt/3hLh0ci
