I graduated from a private liberal arts college about two and a half years ago, and since then, I have been slowly tackling my loans. I'm lucky in that I have been employed since graduation, and for the past year and a half, have been able to pay more than the minimum on my federal loans. Still, I want to do more.
My goal is to pay off all of my remaining debt in the next 2.5 years - before I turn 27.
I was fortunate in my college career to receive help from my parents, along with some major scholarships, so I graduated far less in debt than I might have otherwise. I was also very aware of what I was taking on with each of my loans - I knew that I would have to pay them back, and I believed that my education would be worth it. I still believe that! Regardless, when I graduated, my loan situation looked something like this:
- Subsidized Stafford loans (consolidated): $13,505.31 at 5.625% interest accrued daily
- Unsubsidized Stafford loans (consolidated): $13,060.36 at 5.625% interest accrued daily
- Loan from family: $12,193.02 at 4% interest accrued monthly
- TOTAL DEBT: $38,758.69
Now, my loans look more like this:
- Subsidized Stafford loans (consolidated): $10,729.36
- Unsubsidized Stafford loans (consolidated): $10,375.67
- Loan from family: $9830.56
- TOTAL DEBT: $30,935.59
I have paid a total of $9431.53 toward my loans, and the total owed has decreased by $7832.10.
In the past few months, I have gotten much more serious about paying as much and as quickly as possible. I've gone from making an extra payment of $100 per month to making an extra payment of $530 per month on my federal loans. In total, I pay close to $870 per month toward my loans, and I would like to increase that number.
In the next few days, I'll write more about my plan, what I've done so far, and what's been working, but for now, it feels good to put this out there: by May of 2017, I hope to be debt-free.
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