Student Loans

• fan_from_texas

  Who else is carrying (or has carried) the burden of student loans?
  
  I just made my final payment to Sallie Mae last month--approx. $150k paid off in 4 years, so I'll hopefully never see another student loan again in my life. Still, it feels kind of bad to have devoted so much of my life to paying off that debt only to be in a spot where I feel like I'm finally level again.
  
  Has anyone else paid off their loans? What (if anything) did you do to celebrate? I bumped up the contribution to C's 529 plan, but otherwise we haven't changed much yet.
• Automatik

  

  Wow man...congrats. Hell of a total to pay off in only 4 years. I've been paying on them for 2 years now and finally making some headway.
• sleeper

  

  Impressive.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  I was lucky, only had to take out about $5k in student loans which I paid off in about 6 months after graduating.
• FatHobbit

  

  I only had about $8k in loans, but it was still nice when they were paid off.
• Automatik

  

  I'm f'n buried. Studying abroad killed me.
• derek bomar

  

  I have 50 approx (10 under, 40 grad) that I am taking my time with as I am not in a position to pay them off early right now (just got married/bought a house). I will probably start paying extra on it soon though.
  
  Sidebar... if the gov't ever wanted to jump-start the economy, they'd forgive student loans (or a portion over a certain $ amount). That'd be titties.
• gorocks99

  

  Only about $80k to go here, ha. Worth it though. The grad degree that makes up most of that burden took me from a dead-end field that my undergrad would've funneled me into (tv journalism) and into a much more lucrative one (market research).
• O-Trap

  

  I have about $50K to go.
  
  Damn private school tuition.
• gut

  I'm paying like 2.25% on my loans. Why in hell would I pay that off early?
• O-Trap

  

  gut;1284548 wrote:I'm paying like 2.25% on my loans. Why in hell would I pay that off early?

  Because 0% is lower than 2.25%.
• Scarlet_Buckeye

  

  About 60k to go and feeling every sad penny of it
• Sonofanump

  derek bomar;1284542 wrote:Sidebar... if the gov't ever wanted to jump-start the economy, they'd forgive student loans (or a portion over a certain $ amount). That'd be titties.

  No.
• fan_from_texas

  derek bomar;1284542 wrote:I have 50 approx (10 under, 40 grad) that I am taking my time with as I am not in a position to pay them off early right now (just got married/bought a house). I will probably start paying extra on it soon though.
  
  Sidebar... if the gov't ever wanted to jump-start the economy, they'd forgive student loans (or a portion over a certain $ amount). That'd be titties.

  I've heard people talk about this, but I'd be livid. I mean, we made some major sacrifices to pay off our loans early, and if suddenly the gov't just waved a wand and reduced outstanding loan balances . . . that would seem really unfair.
  

  gut;1284548 wrote:I'm paying like 2.25% on my loans. Why in hell would I pay that off early?

  Our loans were at 6.8%, but if they were at 2.25%, we'd still pay them off early to improve cash-flow. In my field, my income is likely to be highest these first few years, then once I'm fired or quit, I'll take a 30-50% paycut. Better to pound out the debt early, even if there's some opportunity cost with low interest rates.
• BR1986FB

  Count me in as one of the few who only had to take out smaller amounts. Paid off long ago.
• sleeper

  

  I think the government forgiving student loan debt is entirely possible; but it'll be for minorities only because all white people are rich and owned slaves.
• Sonofanump

  fan_from_texas;1284569 wrote:I've heard people talk about this, but I'd be livid. I mean, we made some major sacrifices to pay off our loans early, and if suddenly the gov't just waved a wand and reduced outstanding loan balances . . . that would seem really unfair.

  It would seem and would be unfair. You signed the loan, you knew the terms, you pay it back. But of course in today's world, it is quite possible that it happens since we are overtaxed to pay for programs that are not needed or for private business bailouts.
• gut

  fan_from_texas;1284569 wrote: Our loans were at 6.8%, but if they were at 2.25%, we'd still pay them off early to improve cash-flow. In my field, my income is likely to be highest these first few years, then once I'm fired or quit, I'll take a 30-50% paycut. Better to pound out the debt early, even if there's some opportunity cost with low interest rates.

  There's a TON of opportunity cost with such a low rate. Besides being able to easily double or triple that return in the market, it is the cheapest and most affordable debt, cheaper than even a mortgage. It's like why pay off $20k in student loans only to take out an extra $20k in a mortgage at a higher interest rate? Why pay 4.9% on a car just to pay off a loan at 2.25%?
  
  6.8% is a different story. Makes sense to pay that off as quickly as possible.
• like_that

  

  I was fortunate enough not to have any loans. In fact I finished both degrees with a good amount of money left.
• sleeper

  

  gut;1284585 wrote:There's a TON of opportunity cost with such a low rate. Besides being able to easily double or triple that return in the market, it is the cheapest and most affordable debt, cheaper than even a mortgage. It's like why pay off $20k in student loans only to take out an extra $20k in a mortgage at a higher interest rate? Why pay 4.9% on a car just to pay off a loan at 2.25%?
  
  6.8% is a different story. Makes sense to pay that off as quickly as possible.

  You are under the assumption that the person has an additional 20k in capital to finance the mortgage. Unlikely.
• gut

  sleeper;1284578 wrote:I think the government forgiving student loan debt is entirely possible; but it'll be for minorities only because all white people are rich and owned slaves.

  At least not for anyone with a job or making more than a certain amount. Kind of like a "you tried and failed...we're sorry so let us pick-up the tab".
  
  You can't forgive student loan debt any more than you can mortgages. Now I agree something will happen, but what that probably means is student loans will now be able to be discharged in bankruptcy. That means higher rates for everyone.
  
  There's a bubble in student loans and all of gubmit making. I can't think of a single reason why the gubmit should be involved in that business. Student loans are a $1T+ failure. They haven't made college more attainable or affordable, they've just squeezed out some private money and billed the taxpayer for the cost of that.
• sleeper

  

  gut;1284593 wrote:At least not for anyone with a job or making more than a certain amount. Kind of like a "you tried and failed...we're sorry so let us pick-up the tab".
  
  You can't forgive student loan debt any more than you can mortgages. Now I agree something will happen, but what that probably means is student loans will now be able to be discharged in bankruptcy. That means higher rates for everyone.
  
  There's a bubble in student loans and all of gubmit making. I can't think of a single reason why the gubmit should be involved in that business. Student loans are a $1T+ failure. They haven't made college more attainable or affordable, they've just squeezed out some private money and billed the taxpayer for the cost of that.

  Spot on. Especially the bolded.
• Tiernan

  I'll be on the F'n news as a crazed gunman mowing down State Reps if the Govt forgives Student Loans. All us old Fkrs had to pay years and years and now all you young dooshers need to do the same.
• derek bomar

  

  since when has the gov't worried about being fair?
  
  Also, while it isn't "fair" to those who've paid off their loans - what's the difference between forgiving that and the Fed buying up shitty mortgage loans off of banks books? It'd just be a more efficient way to inject stimulus into the economy, and it would impact people personally and more broadly rather than large banks.
• gut

  sleeper;1284591 wrote:You are under the assumption that the person has an additional 20k in capital to finance the mortgage. Unlikely.

  Doesn't matter whether it's $2k or $20k. Point is you pay-off your most expensive debt first, but at 2.25% there's absolutely no reason to pay it off. Like I said, 6.8% is a different story. That's a rate where I'm much more indifferent, being a decent enough return (when it's guaranteed) on my money, and there's a lot of debt that is cheaper than that.