Consumerism Commentary - Latest Comments in $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

AJ — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:41:35 -0000

I have $110k in student loan debt for just undergrad. I can not even get a job that pays me anything because I did liberal arts. I am working on changing things though.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Mike — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:02:01 -0000

Fairplay to you. That is some going. I love to read about success stories like this. It gives inspiration to all the rest of us.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Ex-student — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:10:50 -0000

Hi everybody, Since the cost for studying in an american college or university is so high and getting a loan for that is so high too....many american students started to study, on the other side of the border, in Canada where the cost of studying is generally 10 000$ which is much less than the majority of the american colleges and universities. Lower you debt potentiel as much as possible. Thanks

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Ray — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:11:07 -0000

Hmm interesting..I'm the opposite. I managed to consolidate my $35,000 law student loans at a very low fixed rate at 2.25%. I'm in no rush to pay them off since they're better spent sitting in an interest account.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

nathan — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:31:38 -0000

If you work in public service and make monthly payments for 10 years, your remaining balance is paid off courtesy of your friendly federal government. Thanks to the Democratic party controlled Congress for finally making this happen...making education a priority. See Public Law 110-84.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

IndependentGirl — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:21:18 -0000

I'm just one more person here to say "Way to go!!" Thanks for sharing.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Stephanie — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:42:19 -0000

Wow! Congratulations! I'm still chipping away at my student loans. But reading your post reminds me that one day, I can be free of student loans, too!
And I also got some ideas of how to pay my student loans off faster without putting myself in a place where I'll be scared of things happening. I just will keep my emergency fund at a certain point, and every time it reaches a certain higher point (due to automatic deposits and earned interest) I can pay that big chunk to my student loan company!

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

SJean — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:36:59 -0000

Congratulations!! I clicked over because my name is also Sasha, and it is just not that common of a name.
My student loan debt is 20k sitting at 0% interest, but it still bothers me!

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Thrifty Penny — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:16:22 -0000

That's awesome! Congratulations! Do you hear that around the corner? That's right, it's the sound of sweet success. Corny, I know!

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Sasha — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:35:41 -0000

Marie,

I think it is important to give yourself some leeway as well. While I paid more to my student loans during certain periods, there were some times when my financial focus needed to be elsewhere, so I just paid the minimum, like when I was in grad school or dealing with unexpected expenses. With your income and family situation now, I can understand that it might be hard to really focus in on the debt. Understand that even if you are paying the minimum, you're still making progress--with a family on a tighter income, the emergency fund becomes even more important, so that may be where your priority lies. You can always work on that fund, place it in a high-yield savings account, and use the interest as extra, "Bonus" principal payments on your loans.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

FinanceAndFat — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:23:55 -0000

That's awesome! Congrats!

My wife and I have about $65K combined. Yeah, that's going to take a long time...nice to see a student loan success story though!

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Meg — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:48:34 -0000

Congrats! What a wonderful feeling it must be.
I can't wait until I feel it. Only 10 more years.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Vixen — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:09:34 -0000

Major congratulations are in order.

I just had to take out my first student loan. It scares the shit out of me. Fortunately, I did city college the first two years. I'm looking to be in something like 10k in debt by this time next year. Eeeek.

Not to mention, I'm planning on a Ph.D after this. That equates to: super expensive schools! My least expensive option would be something like UCLA which is still 13k a year.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Marie — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:20:25 -0000

Thanks for posting this. My husband and I both have masters. I got mine in 2005 he finishes his Apr 2008. We had $55,456.27 in student loan debt and I panicked. We make 21k a year (have 2 kids) and got it down to $51,168.79 for a total paid of $4,287.48 to date. I was feeling like we weren't making any progress. But your post has encouraged me to keep chugging.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Kris — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:11:03 -0000

Sasha - TOTALLY. I printed mine out and I'm putting it on my fridge.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

John — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:33:50 -0000

Sasha,

The rate is locked in, so I'm set there. We consolidated a few years ago. The .5% reduction is for a certain amount of on time payments.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Sasha — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:24:04 -0000

John,

That's a very nice interest rate--be sure to lock it in if you get it ever lower! My rate used to be more like that but I was late in consolidating and the rates went up. One of my dumber moves....

Sasha

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Sasha — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:14:16 -0000

Andrea,

I kept hearing the same thing--that I should just ignore the debt and try to invest in stocks which would earn more. But I'm not much for higher-risk investments, and I decided I'd rather get rid of what seemed like a slow leak of my personal funds than take a chance on something that can fluctuate either way.

Also, the loans just annoyed me in principal. I want to remember college fondly...

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Sasha — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:07:26 -0000

Kris,

Thanks. I'd love to get that e-mail:

Dear Sasha,

Thanks for doing business with us. We promise never to bother you again. Ever.

Really, forget we ever existed.

Love,

Sallie Mae

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Sasha — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:06:07 -0000

Mapgirl,

I don't really know what my next goal is, but I'm up for suggestions. I have a few mortgages between my primary residence and rental property, and I could go towards trying to pay them down sooner, but with assuming I'l resell my primary residence in a few years anyway, it may not be worth it.

Really, I'd like to grow my cash net worth. I keep seeing Flexo's rise monthly on this blog, but my finances were all channeled to the debt so I've not seen my worth rise much at all in the last 2 years. Also, I still have too many expenses.

Oh, and I'm just the associate blogger here... =)

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

mga — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:57:07 -0000

Congratulations on that milestone of life. I achieved that a few years back and it was a great feeling to have.

Now Iâ€™m working towards eliminating the mortgage payments, while trying to balance retirement savings with that. I should probably find a good financial advisor like you did to help me figure out a good balance of the two.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Kris — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:54:55 -0000

Sasha, congratulations! That's outstanding. I paid off Sallie Mae last month, and MAN did it ever feel good. The best part was receiving a "Congratulations. Nice doin' business with you" e-mail yesterday. Way to go!

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Personal Finance Blog — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:42:35 -0000

Great job! Congratulations!

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Sue — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:47:53 -0000

That is extraordinary! Good job. Well done. Congratulations.

Re: $52,050.74: A Farewell to Student Loans

Chief Family Officer — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:35:55 -0000

Congratulations, Sasha! That's really awesome :D