Introduction

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is not to get people to feel sorry for me.  It is not to rant or let out my anger.  It is to let others that are in our same situation know that yes, it can be done and you are not alone.  What situation may you ask? It’s a predicament that many young adults and Generation Y-ers hold in common.  College debt. 

You may have read an article in the past year or so, with a headline entitled something like “Former College Student Pays Off $50,000 of Student Loan Debt”.  You may read of the struggling MD resident student with $150,000 in college debt.  Having this much college debt is not unheard of for those with a Doctoral, Master’s or even a Bachelor’s degree, depending on what school you chose to attend.  For me, it was a private university. 

This private university, which will remain nameless throughout these blog posts, was the ultimate college experience.  Not only was it a big challenge academically, but all I knew was that all of the people that my family knew to have gone there were multi-millionaire businessmen and women.  If I was to make that much money post-undergraduate study then hey, why not go to a private university?  There was one catch…. neither of my parents had the money to pay for my college.  I was lobo solo.  Well, perhaps my next plan was to marry a rich man from a rich family. “Ok” I thought, “I will go to this private college, but then I will make so much money when I graduate AND marry someone rich? I will have it made”.  Oh does God have a sense of humor.

I did meet my soul-mate during my undergraduate career.  It was the summer before our junior year of undergrad.  We fell in love and you couldn’t separate us.  The only thing that wasn’t according to my grand plan was, this wonderful man, also did not have his college paid for by his parents.  We both were out of our league.  In the words of my mother, “the two most broke people at ___________ University found each other and fell in love.” 

I don’t regret any of the decisions I have made in my lifetime.  I would not have met my husband had I not went to that private university.  I would not be the professional that I am had I not got my Master's degree.  Our beautiful daughter, Sunshine we will call her, would also not be here had we not met.  A year and a half in to our marriage (and 4 ½ years past my undergraduate degree) we decided to sit down and actually put all of our debts into an Excel ledger. Yes, all of them.  Every unpaid doctor bill from college, every bill from when we never paid of the cable and, of course, our student loans.  What was the total? I thought you would never ask.  $314,000.00.  As a newly married couple this amount was pretty scary to look at on paper.  In one moment, the layout of the next 15-20 years of our lives were right in front of us in the form of six figures.

So, friends, here is our journey.  Our journey through our debt. You will have to excuse my writing style.  While I am a Speech Pathologist by trade, I do like to be very informal with my writing.  I hope that some of you find this helpful as you may be in a similar situation.  I will first begin the story of our journey with our upbringing.  More to come!