January 28, 2022 marked my one year anniversary of paying off my student loans . Reflecting back on choosing to pay off my student loans leaves me with several take a ways that I want to share with you! In September 2020 I decided to become debt free by utilizing the debt snowball method to pay off all my debt. Before this I had struggled to save and really understand basic financial principles. As a first-generation college student, I received a scholarship to attend undergrad for free, but the scholarship did not cover summers. During the summers I took out student loans to cover costs without paying interest rates or how much I was taking out. By the end of undergrad I had amassed a little under $17K. Fast forward to graduate school I received another scholarship that covered my education. At the time I was a teacher in a new very expensive city and I had missed the cutoff to have my paycheck last me throughout the summer. So, I decided to take out a loan for two summers to keep
January 28, 2022 marked my one year anniversary of
paying off my student loans. Reflecting back on choosing to pay off my student
loans leaves me with several take a ways that I want to share with you! In September
2020 I decided to become debt free by utilizing the debt snowball method to pay
off all my debt. Before this I had struggled to save and really understand basic
financial principles. As a first-generation college student, I received a
scholarship to attend undergrad for free, but the scholarship did not cover
summers. During the summers I took out student loans to cover costs without
paying interest rates or how much I was taking out. By the end of undergrad I
had amassed a little under $17K.
Fast forward to graduate school I received another scholarship
that covered my education. At the time I was a teacher in a new very expensive
city and I had missed the cutoff to have my paycheck last me throughout the
summer. So, I decided to take out a loan for two summers to keep me afloat.
Looking back on this I could have gotten a summer job to stay on track
financially but taking out a loan was much easier.
Once I decided to get serious about my finances, I knew
that meant finally tackling my student loan debt that had now amassed to $30K.
As a teacher I was able to have $17.5k forgiven leaving me with a balance of $14,180k.
In April 2021 I began paying a total of six loans that ranged from $1k to $5k.
It took me about a month and a half to pay off each loan with the loan for $5K
taking about two months.
Here's what I did to pay off each loan in nine months:
1. Took
on 5 side hustles! That’s right I worked from Sunday to Sunday!
2. I
chose to not let the possibility of student loan debt cancellation from the
white house affect my decision in paying off my loans.
3. Listened
to encouraging financial information from the Ramsey Show.
4. Said
no and ignored the naysayers.
Student loan debt is hard, defeating, and insurmountable
at times but you can do it! If you want to know more about how I paid off $43k
of debt in 22 months check out this link!
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