There is no easier way to strike fear into the heart of most any college student than by saying those three little words: student loan debt. I spent my five years at OVU ignoring the fact that I would have to pay back those pesky loans someday. I even spent the two months after graduation pretending like it was not looming over my head. After much pestering from my parents, I decided to do my post-graduation loan counseling and found that I owed a tad more than I expected: $50,000 in all. Honestly, I freaked out a little bit. I still did not have a job using my degree, I was only working part-time, and I am living on my own (i.e., paying utilities, car insurance, buying groceries, and the like). I was scared that, come November, I was going to be dishing out the remainder of my paychecks toward paying off my student loans. As stated previously, I like to ignore things, but I could not shake this heavy weight on my shoulders so I started to brainstorm what I could do. Fake my death was first on the list but I doubted my ability to get away with it. So I thought back to what I had learned from the money chapter in my stress management class with Dr. Crum (take it even if you don’t think you need to). I remembered his budget and adapted it to my needs. I also read the book that he gifted me for graduation ("Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey). There I found some really great tips on how to make and stick to a budget while getting out from under debt. My favorite piece of advice from Ramsey is his concept of a "debt snowball": pay off the lowest amount of debt first, then use that money to pay off the next lowest, until you get it all paid off.
Next, as any great millennial would do, I turned to the internet to see what I could find. I read article after article about how people paid off their student loans within two years after graduating college. Most of the people behind these success stories had things in common that they believe helped them achieve: first, they made some sort of visual representation of their debt. This mostly took the form of a graph that showed how much they had already paid and how much they owed. Being able to mark more money off of the "already paid" portion of their graph provided excitement and pride. Second, they realized the importance of becoming debt-free and took the necessary steps to put that as a top priority. This came in two stages: self-denial and occupational. Self-denial basically means they budgeted and cut out what was unnecessary: going out to eat, cable and vacations to name a few. The occupational stage dealt with looking for a career using their degree, but being willing to work other jobs not related to their degree to make sure they did not default on their loans. Third, and most obviously, the did not accumulate any other debt during the time they were paying off their student loans. Most people noted that if they could not pay for it in cash, they could not afford it.
These few ideas, plus the amount of success articles I read, really helped put me at ease. So far I have put the budget in place and secured a job in my field of study. Within the next month, I plan to work the rest of these ideas into my daily life. I wish that I had taken more time during school to understand where I would be financially after graduation, but I am also glad I did not over-obsess and let it rule my life. I have realized that it is important to have a happy medium and to not be afraid. I know that the road to becoming debt free is long, but I am excited to tackle it.
