It's been a little over a year since I graduated from Institute-That-Must-Not-Be-Named: Online Division and while I'm pretty happy with the job position I'm currently in, I'm really not happy with my financial situation. In other words, I'm drowning with student loans, and it sucks.
First off, I know how I got here. I knew the big financial risk I was taking with going back to school. I knew the mistakes I made along the way. So there's no point in me ranting how I could've done things differently.... again. I'm one of the young adults that are faced with a high figure student loan debt that is significantly higher than their annual salary and are trying to find ways to deal with it.
So what did I do? First, I got severely depressed, which is hard not to do in this kind of situation. Even though I was making more money with my new job, I hated seeing such a big chunk of it going towards Sallie Mae every month. I depleted most of my savings account to pay off a few of the federal loans so I'm somewhat in a better position now but it still sucks because there's still more loans to take care of. I was bitterly jealous because Vince was student debt free, thanks to his family being smart with their money. He's able to splurge and save up, while I live in personal poverty. That feeling sucks.
So what did I really do? After browsing subreddits on student loans and personal finance, I decided to do something about it. Instead of being bitter about throwing money at Sallie Mae AND Navient, I decided to come up with a plan to really tackle my debt. I applied for IBR/PAYE, which can help you lower your monthly payments without having to defer or go into forbearance. THIS REALLY HELPS. You don't have to write a letter about your hardships, just see if you're eligible and apply for it. I was approved and I saw my payments go down by a lot. I had extra money but I had to discipline myself to use that extra money towards paying my private loan with the highest interest rate. Applying for IBR/PAYE extends the life of the loan but there's no penalty in paying more than the minimum amount.
I'm not happy with my financial situation and it still sucks but at least I'm determined to get this debt managed. Some people might be happy paying their loans for 10-25 years but I'd rather get out of debt fast.
Number of times "SUCKS" was used: 5
