RxM, you really don't have the highest balance. Between me and my FH, we're at 69K, despite actively paying down for 4 years.

Yes, with that kind of balance like yours, and my husband's I cannot wait to pay it off. My husband doesnt want to add extra to the payments we already ahve, he wants to build up our emergency fund, while i am ready to throw everything at teh stupid student loan!

So, I'm curious: in your quest to get rid of this stupid student loan, what has been your biggest struggle so far?

Jake

That's an easy question to answer, Jake.

It's been difficult to listen to everyone else's advice... variously extreme, saying that I should pay only my minimums on my loans or that I should get them paid off as quickly as possible even if it means not worrying about retirement or emergency funds.

I know now that the middle-of-the-road approach (e.g. making reasonable payments while still being able to afford everything else I need in my financial life) is the best for me. Carrying all of my debt will cost me somewhere around $1500 in interest all told, and I'd say an education that landed me a decent job and stimulated my imagination was well worth this additional cost over borrowed principal.

Bottom line: Debt isn't great, but student debt is the lesser of many evils, especially government debt like mine. I'm being aggressive with my payments but I'm also leaving room to nourish my retirement and savings funds.

My husband graduated, moved to another city, got a job, we got married, then had a baby, I switched to another job = all of this created a big obstacle to becoming more agressive with student loan debts. In addition, since getting married we have paid off approximately 30K in credit card debt and have no cc debt today, we also paid off my student loan, paid off my car, and had a major hospital bill with husband's surgery and baby delivery, despite having pretty good health insurance. And all of this in 2.5 years

So, now that we have paid off all cc debt etc, all that remains is husband's student loan, his car (about 11K left), and of course mortgage.

Jake,

Finally got a chance to check out your video... Very good stuff!

I have another smidgen of advice for everyone in our situation: set goals that lead to rewards.

As my reward for finally getting down to four figures (yes!) I got myself a new Kindle.

That's one way to keep motivated!

Keep fighting the good fight, guys! The fact that we are involved in this forum means that we have the determination to conquer these loans!

Late to the game but I want to join:

What I've paid off: $46,934.13 + $69,797.67 + $6,500
What I've paid down: $106,480.16 to $44,771

(These loans are as a result of private undergrad; master's degree + J.D.)

I'll be completely debt free by the end of this year.

To answer the previous question, while it was difficult to find this job in this economy (and it's a great job); my biggest problem was mental. I hesitated to take lucrative jobs, hesitated to take leadership positions and hesitated to truly live up to all that I had studied for. I have to say my husband was instrumental in changing that. His expectations and belief in my skills, intellect and career has turned my thinking around. Of course, we also live frugally so he's my partner that way as well.

It's been hard to wear thrift-store shoes and etc when I'm making alot of money but it'll be worth it when I have my first paycheck that doesn't have to go to a student loan.

That is beyond awesome! I wish I had ignored my beliefs in that I was lacking to go after the type of career you have now. Keep going your almost there everyone!

Wow, what a story!

What do you guys think about the students in the Occupy Wall St. protest complaining that they have too much student debt? I have to confess, it is daunting to pay it all off. I feel lucky to have gainful employment and a moderate amount of debt. However, I'm not sure I completely agree with the idea that student debt should be completely forgiven... I've worked hard to get most of my loans paid down. I'd support some kind of interest-free deferral program for kids who can't find work right away, or maybe a refinancing program that lowers the interest rate. Education is expensive... it's hard to pay for, and perfectly possible to pick a worthless career track while enrolled... who should pay the bills in that case? I feel like I borrowed as much as I planned to be able to afford, but sometimes people don't think about these issues until they've graduated...

What do you guys think about this?

Re flinch13's question:

Well, I've got to be honest - I don't know how I'd feel if I were unemployed and I certainly felt resentful when I couldn't find a job in 2008.

I do think that law schools (and normal schools) do not adequately prepare potential law students for the realities of the legal market. Many students have no idea that what they want to do will not bring them anywhere near the ability to pay off their student loans. Or in other cases, they won't be able to find the job that they want right away.

Truly, I just took out loans because that's what I thought everyone did. I do think alot of these schools are big ole scams, especially law schools. There are bottom tier schools that charge as much or more than Harvard! Ranking is super important for law schools and often initially influence what the student can do after graduation. I am not saying that ranking is the only thing, but for many young students, who go in to law school right after college - they really are ill-prepared and have vague ideas of what they want to do after law school. It doesn't seem fair to them. I took 4 years off between college and law school and I think that time and work experience made a big difference for me.

Sorry for the ramble.

Agreed. Many of my classmates had no idea what they wanted to do when they graduated, nor did they really think about how to pay off loans. This was the norm, and in some ways I think this is a sort of institutional problem that private colleges have in the US. I think a bit of financial literacy goes a very very long way... maybe this should be taught in high school?

Hi guys,

Flinch-- glad you loved the video! you guys are exactly the type of people I need to be connected with. Thanks for the advice on building in rewards along the path to getting out of debt, too! I should build in some mini rewards at the 20k and 10k mark or something. How's that Kindle treating you? [BTW: I haven't used my degree since graduating in '03, but I fully believe it's my responsibility to clean up the student loans, since I signed my name on the dotted line. Even if it were tough finding a job. It sucks, yes, but living with the consequence of that has really caused me to learn from it and act smarter]

Saro-- you are my hero! What a champion. That is really hardcore. What is it that keeps you so motivated? BTW: I got my loans exactly like you. My classmates graduated from HS in May/June, and everyone just started college the following September. Everybody did it, so I did too; it's such a scam in America! Wish I had a gap year, like you described. Unfortunately, my parents didn't know any better; they just saw me having success with a college diploma in hand. But it's not always like that. Anyway, live and learn! I'll be considering my own children's education with a different approach, that's for sure.

I am seriously inspired by you guys! I was feeling a little blah this past week but after reading your comments am pumped. Thank you! Last night I recorded another podcast which will be up soon at domoneybetter.com. You are exactly the type of inspiring people I need to connect with! How can we connect more?

Best,

Thanks for the kind words. Regarding the motivation: this website & forum really help keep me motivated and I also have some goals that I don't think I can really do without being debt free (start my own business, own a house, have kids & etc). I'm expecting now, so it's giving me an extra oomph to pay off everything before the baby is born!

Regarding my future children's school debt, I know I'll be doing things differently, I just don't know how! I haven't let myself think that far ahead but we'll see.

I love this idea! I'm still in graduate school currently, but paying off interest every month from my undergrad loans. I will graduate in May with almost exactly $20,000 all around 6.5%. I'm excited to start attacking those loans and would love a support group like this! My issues include the desire to buy a house soon, get married soon, have kids within the next few years, and all on a starting salary of about $35,000 (fortunately I already have a pretty good job opportunity for when I graduate). I also plan on continuing to waitress a few nights a week to really attack those loans! It's just a little dis-heartening to have so many things I want to put money toward (loans, down payment, wedding) yet so little actual money coming in...I suppose that's everyones story, huh? Anyway, I think this is a great idea to keep people motivated, and I hope you are all still around come May!!

I'm almost done with my journey, so I may not be much help in the long run with keeping you going, but hopefully I can provide some motivation now.

I finished my Ph.D. in 2003 and ended up with... $82,000 in student loans.

As of this morning I'm down to $1,880. My goal is to have it gone by Thanksgiving! That would be something to be thankful for .

I will say that the Ph.D. has allowed me to earn a salary that made it possible to even think paying this off is possible and I have a job I love.

I agree with the person upstream who said that they had to tune out advice to just pay the minimum. Yes, my loans were only at 3%, but I really don't want to be paying them at 60! Plus getting rid of that 3% is doing better than my savings or 401K is this year.

Two things that helped me were micropayments and directing a second income source. If you look at my payment history, you'll see some weeks where I made 3 or 4 payments of 75-100 dollars, just chipping away a little bit. Also, I teach as an adjunct as a second job and all money from that went to the loan.

Good luck to all of you!