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When I married my husband, he was 24 and I was 27, and I was <em>shocked</em> when I realized he had $4000 in student loans
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<p>My wife who had a great job in the computer field with only an AA degree told me she paid off her car loan so she could enter our marriage unencumbered. Imagine her surprise when she found out I had $40,000 in student loans which I just refinanced for a 20 year graduated payout from Sallie Mae. Fortunately, I was able to make a good living and paid off every last penny seven years later.</p>
<p>When I finished school (the first time) In 1982 I had about $10,000 in student loans on a 10 year schedule. I paid the loans off in about 6 years. I was making good progress and really made hay when my mate and I started to live together (both of us sharing expenses for only one place allowed me to save serious bucks which I applied to my student loans). I know the "best" financial plan is to pay the low interest student loan as slow as you are allowed and to invest any extra money in higher yield investments ... but I couldn't stand being in debt for college and paid the loans off ASAP.</p>
<p>I paid back almost exactly $100,000 in between college and med school loans and the last sliver was at a fairly high interest because I had surpassed limits on the low interest loans. There would have been more but my then fiance, now H, coughed up tuition money for my last semester of medical school, and I finished early and did a few months of working at Stanley Kaplan (teaching SAT prep of course) to pay living expenses. Most loans were deferred during medical training, but some accumulated interest so I tried to repay those immediately (H was back in grad school at that point) from my intern's wages of $16,500/year at Stanford(where, needless to say, no houses were bought!)... The last of the loans was repaid 12 years after med school graduation, and until that point it was as if we had 2 mortgage payments/month. </p>
<p>I have no regrets about the costs related to my undergraduate education, but in retrospect I could have done without the pricey med school- and gone to the state school for a comparable education, if less lofty name. The kids in my residency program split down the middle-half had gone to private med schools, half to their state schools. I shudder at the price of private medical schools these days, and thinking about the burden new grads will bear....But neither of my 2 older kids are planning that route at this point..</p>
<p>From an investment perspective I might have done better to buy a house in Southern California (Or Northern California) in 1982 than pay for 4 years of private medical school....</p>
<p>Husband didn't know I had 20K in loans when we married. He might have run the other way. The majority of the debt was from pharmacy school even with two jobs. I owed 20k when I graduated and had to consolidate and extend to 20 yrs. I was making 30K and my loans before consolidation were $600+/month. I had moved back with my parents, my car was falling apart, I needed psychotherapy and I was poor. My mother demanded $500 a month to live at home. I found myself an apartment for $400, got away from the mother and no longer required the Beverly Hills therapist. I remember getting tired of writing checks every month and just payed off the debt with some saving sometime before the son was in high school. The final check was a lot less than son's tuition now. We are so grateful that son does not have loans hanging over his head. I had a male friend who told me I would have been better off saving the $75/wk therapist money, driving the junker and putting it towards a house-too bad I didn't listen.</p>