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How much do you (and your DP/SO) owe?

  • $0

    Votes: 81 30.8%
  • $1.00 to $1,000

    Votes: 3 1.1%
  • $1,000 to $5,000

    Votes: 14 5.3%
  • $5,000 to $10,000

    Votes: 21 8.0%
  • $10,000 to $20,000

    Votes: 38 14.4%
  • $20,000 to $30,000

    Votes: 33 12.5%
  • $30,000 to $50,000

    Votes: 29 11.0%
  • $50,000 to $75,000

    Votes: 17 6.5%
  • $75,000 to $100,000

    Votes: 13 4.9%
  • $100,000 to $200,000

    Votes: 12 4.6%
  • Over $200,000

    Votes: 2 0.8%

How much student loan debt do you have?

5K views 90 replies 80 participants last post by  EFmom 
#1 ·
How much student loan debt do you have?
 
#77 ·
I have 50K, hubby has around 3K

I went to school off and on for about 8 years...still haven't graduated.

I worked, but min wage and I had no help from family. So mostly the loans were to live off of.

Makes me ill. I'm a sahm now, so DH gets to pay off my debt. Keeps us from getting a house.
 
#78 ·
Roughly 9k for me, about 4k for DH. I worked through college and still had to take out loans. I quit college because I was getting too many loans and getting overwhelmed working and studying at the same time. So far, I do NOT regret this decision. I went because it was expected of me (by my parents and mom's parents) not because I really chose to. I did gain a lot of life experience, and I did enjoy the chemistry and algebra classes, but I didn't learn very much for all the $$. I'm with my dad's mom on this one, she supports me even though my immediate family is kindof disappointed.
 
#80 ·
HMB et al over $100k:

hugs to you and everyone well over $100k.

honestly, reading many your numbers made me feel so much better because 1. i don't feel as crazy (seriously, i had this delusion that i was rare to have this kind of debt because most of my friends either A. had their parents pay for school or B worked through school; as well as A. either didn't go to grad school or B. went to grad school and it was completely paid by the school, stipend, etc), and 2. i also feel the same way when i look at my numbers--i literally start an anxiety/shame cycle!

my husband is paid off, and i make monthly payments, but i owe $109,000 in school debt. i went to law school, graduated, but now i teach yoga.

we hope that my business will expand greatly in the next two years and that that expansion will allow us to pay off the whole debt in the next two years. Assuming things go the way that i hope they will.
even if it only does half what we expect (which is what i make now), we've talked about putting all of that income toward the school loans, and paying it off in four years (right now, most of the income goes back into the business, to the minimum loan payment, and into our savings).

i so want this monkey off my back!
 
#81 ·
didnt mean anything negative or uninformed by my original statement

let me re-phrase

I worked and made enough money to pay entirely for my college and bills and was lucky enough to not have to need to use student loans to pay for college.
oh and I did take a year off between grade 12 and college to save up a bunch

the lucky part was that I was a lifeguard and made really good money and the other part of the equation was that i went to a community college which cost so much less than university.
 
#83 ·
Neither of us took any school loans. We both got Associate's degrees at community colleges before we got our Bachelor's. DH lived with his parents all the way through college. I lived in a dorm my first year, but had a full tuition scholarship because of my grades in HS. When I married my first husband, I worked full time and went to school full time to finish my BS degree. I got tuition reimbursement for all but my last semester of school. My parents and I split the tuition for the last semester.

My bachelor's degree is from Harvard. However, I went to the Extension School, which is the evening division. It was cheaper to attend Harvard at night than it was to go to the University of Massachusetts! The Extension School used to advertise themselves as the best kept secret in Boston. Classes are held on the main Harvard campus, mostly taught by Harvard professors (some are visiting professors). It is a Harvard education for less than a state school price. You can't beat that deal! I was the youngest person in most of my classes as everyone else were adults returning to school. It is a different experience than the standard college experience, but totally worth it for me!

I am currently in law school and am planning to take no loans for that either. I got a substantial scholarship, which covers just under 75% of the tuition. We are paying the other 25% out of pocket.
 
#84 ·
Hmmmm... about 80k right now for dh and I.

That covers 2 BAs, 2 MAs, a PhD on hold (abd), and a PhD in process. I'm planning on getting an MLS in a year or two but that will be without loans.

I wish we didn't have that debt of course, but my only real regret is leaving my own PhD program without the degree. There were (and are) good reasons why I refocused my educational and personal path but it would be nice to have finished that degree!
 
#85 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by annethcz View Post
None, thank goodness. My parents paid for my college education, and we finished paying for DH's college loans a couple years ago.
Us too. We paid off dh's student loans before we had kids. He had a crazy consulting job for about 6 months while I was pregnant and worked 80 hour weeks - making overtime. We paid off our cars, student loans, cc's.
 
#87 ·
$0 - but we paid off about 85K the first few years of marriage. Most of the loans were mine from private grad school for my PhD. Both DH and I had scholarships, but mine did not cover the first 2 years. I worked full time, often two jobs, through undergrad, so I had no loans from my B.S. I was not at work full time during a doctorate program, nor would I have been able to afford the substantial tuition even if I had. (FWIW, grad school tuitions tend to be much higher than undergrad.)
 
#89 ·
$0

Both DH and I were very fortunate: our parents were willing and able to pay for our undergraduate education, which was not cheap.

I worked and got teaching assistantships and fellowships to pay for my doctorate.

DH paid off his master's degree a few years ago, about 5 years after graduating.

I'm very proud that my undergraduate institution is following Harvard's lead and has decided to give scholarships instead of loans to anyone who is admitted and needs financial aid. They already have a need-blind admission policy, so this should really make an impact in the lives of these students.
 
#90 ·
$15,000 for me... and I don't even know how much for DH. He's still in school and we aren't paying on his yet. I am optimistic that we will start our TMMO next month and after a year for credit cards, that student loan is next on the list and will probably take two years to pay off.
 
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