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! 