I remember the fall semester of my senior year in high school the teachers went on and on and on about applying for scholarships. I remember thinking that scholarships were only for the students with the most extracurricular activities, best grades, and most skill on sports, and that there was no point in applying because I would never get them. Eventually I applied to maybe 3 scholarships and I got one. I thought I was lucky and was ahead of the curve.
Towards the end of the year the school had a senior awards ceremony. During one of the awards presentations the award presenter mentioned that the award recipient had sent out *hundreds* of scholarship applications - and was awarded over 50 scholarships and grants. Needless to say, her school was paid for. So much for my one scholarship.
I received some help with paying for college from my family, but I needed to find a way to cover the rest of my college expenses. At that point I had two options: work during school or get student loans. I chose student loans because I thought that if I worked, I would end up flunking out because I didn't have enough time to study. I also figured that it was normal to have student loans and, besides, most people can pay them off quickly after college.
When I started the loan process I quickly found out that I needed a cosigner. I eventually asked my family to cosign for me, and they obliged. But after I received the loans I always felt uncomfortable visiting them. In the back of my mind I kept thinking of different scenarios that would make me unable to pay my student loans. What if I ended up dropping out of college? What if I couldn't find a job? What if the job didn't pay enough? What would I say to them, sorry? Holidays never felt the same again.
Fast forward to graduation and I had built up slightly over 40k in loan debt. 11 months later I married my wife, and she had some where around 8K loan debt. By the time we were married all student loans had entered repayment. We figured if we paid a substantial amount each month we could pay them off in a couple of years. But after a few months, life happened and we found out we were expecting our first daughter 9 months (to the day) after our wedding. Student loans fell down the priority list and we realized that we were not going to quickly them off,
We will make our last student loan payment this May, over 4 years after we started repaying. Then we can finally put college behind us. Altogether, we will have paid over 60k in principle and interest. We would have loved to used that money for other things, especially using it as a substantial down payment towards our house and setup an emergency fund.
If I could relive my senior year in high school and college, there are things I would have done differently:
- Paid more attention to my grades to improve my chances for scholarships and grants.
- Apply to as many scholarships and grants as possible. Nothing beats free money.
- Work during college to pay off the rest of my expenses.
There are also a few other things I have learned in regard to student loans:
- The relationship between a signer and a cosigner is strained, whether they consiously or subconsciously realize it.
- Don't rely on things going perfectly to pay off student loans. Life happens and student loans are an unnecessary burden.
- Student loans limits your opportunities and choices after college
Next up: Financing purchases and no money down
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