Students Across the Nation are Planning Something Unprecedented to End Student Debt Forever

[Heddi]

59. Because it's a racket of a system

It's the only loan you'll be able to get without a credit check, and for many people, it's the only way they'll be able to improve their lot in life.

I got my loans when I went to nursing school. I had a guaranteed minimum salary when I graduated which made it very easy to pay off the loans. I also had a ridiculously low interest rate.

I had about $12k of loans left from a failed attempt at Cooking School a few years earlier when I started RN school, and I graduated with about 30k in loans. My husband and I would pay off some when we could even when I was in school and the loans were on hold (but still accruing interest), so that kind of helped.

When I graduated, I didn't use the 6 month grace period before repayment - my entire first paycheck went to the loans. My monthly payment was $125 but I would always try to make double payments when I could, and once my husband graduated from nursing school I was paying close to $500 a month just to get the fucker out of the way. WHen he was in school, we paid his tuition out of pocket.

It helps that we are incredibly frugal people, and even when neither of us were working and both in school, we always had at least 6 months of living money in the bank. We planned it, and we made it work for us.

We also don't have kids, and don't have any other debt -- no car payment, no mortgage, no medical debt. My husband worked and supported us while i was a FT student, and I did the same when he was in school. There was maybe 1 year or less when we were both in school at the same time and not working, but we had planned that as well.

This is not a common situation, and I don't begrudge people who can't do what we did. I grew quite tired of plain spaghetti, rice, or beans every night.

It is not as easy for someone with a degree in the humanities to walk out with a guaranteed $50k/year job like I was as an RN, either.