Hello, all -

Yup - you saw right. 170,000 in student loans. We have no other debt, not even a car note or mortage. The student loan may as well be a mortgage though. The 170thou is between two people. (trying to make myself sound better here ) Most of it is for my husband's pharmacy school. He graduates in May '12. About 43,000 is undergraduate school. (3 bachelors) I have recently started a blog to help us stay focused on achiving our goals. - http://170thou.blogspot.com

I would appreciate any support/advice, encouraging success stories, etc!

Thanks for having me!

I personally didnt pay off big student loans like you have but watched my brother and his wife do it years back. They had $127,000 in student loans. I have to admit I thought they were crazy at the time but wow did the plan pay off. They lived in a kind of dumpy apartment with roommates during school. They lived with those roommates for about 4 years after school and still lived like broke students. Cruddy car, took on no debt , hardly eating out etc.

They did that for a few years with their new job incomes and paid all that student debt off. Their friends thought they were nuts! Once the debt was paid they moved into a better apartment without roomies. They then saved for a home. The 1st year they had their new home hardly any furniture. They wanted good furniture and saved up cash to get it. They could care less all they had was bedroom furniture and a couch. When we flew down to visit we giggled but got it.

Eventually they got their custom furniture and saved a years salary. Their salary's eventually equaled over 20K a month after years of hard work in their careers so they saved up a years salary at that level and then got their dream home.

It is easy to say with their income of course they have a years salary and 0 debt + a great nest egg besides. However in reality watching this unfold over 18 years it was 100% frugal living and careful cash management. Even though many of the items they may have ( like a new BMW bought with cash a year ago) are not in many of our current budgets their careful living and getting the best deal they could and not buying if they couldnt pay cash for 18 years are the reason why they can afford it.

Yes to me their income was huge but how many people have a great income and are always living paycheck to paycheck? Quite a few!

It really is amazing to see what they did. I know full well even if they had only made $40K a year between them they would have done the same things just on a much smaller scale.

You can so do this!

Thanks so much for the encouragement. It's been tuff this final year because my husband is on his rotations and is hardly working - like 4-6 hours a week. In years prior he had been working 14 or so a week. The debt (ie interest) is really going to start rolling soon. I only make about 38k. We figure once he graduates we will be making about 135K (before taxes) and assuming we maintain our standard of living will be out of debt by 1Jan16. That's the plan anyway.

I'm in the same postion with my wife's student loan. It has put a real strain on our marriage. I was debt free and financially free when we got married and had no idea her student loan was so high. She has a graduate's degree and should be earning into the 6 figure range within the next 3 years. We already have a combined income of 6 figures, but none the less it's a strain as I'm a business owner and my income can fluctuate. Last year wasn't as good as our first year of marriage was for my earnings.

Added up, 170K feels more insurmountable than the amount owed on my home, and it feels like a weight that was unfairly placed on me.

mikekey, I can absolutely understand you feel unfairly burdened by this debt. But I wonder if you ever sat down with you then to be wife to discuss finances, goals in life, and other long term planning?

Obviously it's too late to go back to that discussion now, but I do hope you have talked over this type of things after you got married to at least make sure you've got the same destination on your lifepath planned.

Amazing. No wonder this topic has been so hotly debated in the news these days. I happen to be of the opinion that paying off the loan is a matter of being frugal and appropriate cash management. Good Luck. I'll try to chime in if I find something worth while on the topic.