School Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Making Sense Of Cents

My Student Loans Are Fully Paid Off!

July 9, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 271 Comments

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This blog post on how to pay off student loans quickly was last updated on December 3, 2016.

Yes, you just read the title of this blog post correctly. My student loans are gone and fully paid off!

Donezo. Eliminated. Demolished.

It seems like just a couple of months ago I published my post about my $38,000 in student loans (scroll down to the bottom of this post if you are interested in how I paid off my student loans) and how badly I wanted them gone.

I have made a decent amount of recent payments and have watched our savings account dwindle down to a very low and uncomfortable number (still livable though).

Our monthly income keeps increasing and without it, none of this would have been possible. I am very grateful for everything in life.

Also, many have asked about why I made some small payments of less than $1 (see the picture below). It is because whenever I would pay the full amount of the loan off, they would still charge interest on the loan for the day until the actual payment was received. So, I had some small payments of less than $1. [Read more…]

How I’m Getting Rid of My Student loans FAST

May 29, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 138 Comments

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Back in November of 2012, I wrote about my $40,000 worth of student loan debt. This was the total amount of student loans that I accumulated while I was getting my undergraduate and graduate degrees. When I wrote that post, I had hardly paid anything towards my student loans. Interest was slowing building up, but not that much, as most of my loans were still being deferred.

Ever since that post was published, I have been attacking my student loans like crazy. I have been applying any extra money towards my student loans, and I am now proud to say that they are almost gone. We have enough money in the bank to completely pay them off, but have chosen to wait as we don't want to withdraw everything out of our emergency fund to pay my student loans off. We don't want to tap into retirement funds as well, so those funds will stay where they currently are.

As a refresher, I graduated in May of 2010 with my B.A. in Management and my B.S. in Business Administration. I applied for jobs and was hired on at a financial firm right after I graduated. I then took a year off from school and decided to go back for my Finance MBA. I then graduated in August of 2012 with my Finance MBA. I continued working full-time throughout this and still hold my same job today. I graduated with a decent amount of debt, but I am happy that I don't have more.

I am guilty of taking out more in student loans than I needed. Right after high school, I needed a place to live and I probably took out an extra $1,000 or $2,000 to help fund my living. So, not too horrible, but that's still an extra couple of thousand that I probably should not have taken out. [Read more…]

12 Facts About Student Loan Debt that will make Your Hair Stand on End

May 17, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 47 Comments

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Today I have a post from Kevin and it's all about student loans. Don't forget to read my My $38,000 Student Loan Payoff Plan if you haven't yet.

Getting a college education in the US today appears to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, graduates are in a better position than those without a college degree when it comes to getting jobs. Yet with the cost of education rising, tens of thousands of students are graduating with piles of debts they spend years paying off.

Sometimes they are not able to pay, with unemployment rates remaining high and stagnant. Dogged by debt collectors, they resort to public protests and hiding. To add more props to the terrifying reality show of student debt, here are 12 facts about student loan debt that will make your hair stand on end.

1. High debt and fear of loans

Two thirds of college graduates from universities across the country in 2011 had debts from student loans, an early 2012 study by The Institute for College Access & Success revealed. There is a total of $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt and the average debt is estimated at $26,600 per student. Fear of such high loans can keep students from receiving the education that they deserve.

[Read more…]

How to Transition Back into the Workforce After a Long Period of Unemployment

March 22, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 16 Comments

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Recently, a reader said that while my blog is helpful, that she would rather me have more tips and posts on those who have had a long period of unemployment. Then all of a sudden I received an e-mail from One Smart Dollar who said that they wanted to guest post and had some general ideas for a topic. What was one of those topics? It was THIS ONE! What great timing right?

This is a guest post from Scott Sery, a freelance writer, who writes for One Smart Dollar. When not talking about money he enjoys passing on his knowledge of the back country in Montana and how to live sustainably. Follow them on Twitter at @OneSmartDollar.

At least one time during most people’s working career they will find themselves unemployed. Whether it’s due to company cutbacks and workers layoffs, or due to the employee being fired, these normally hard working people find themselves forced into job hunting.

While there are plenty of jobs out there, not every job is suited to every person. So, rather than settle for something that is beneath their skill level, or a menial job that would do more damage to their self esteem than it is worth, they collect unemployment. They do this as they keep looking for the job for which they are trained. Many times that looking period is long; often lasting a year or more. When something finally does come along, they often find that the transition from unemployed to working is a lot harder than the transition from working to unemployed. [Read more…]

Is a Business Degree a Waste?

March 6, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 68 Comments

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Is a Business Degree a Waste? Is a business management degree worth it? I keep hearing people/news outlets arguing at opposite ends of what seems to be a common question. Short answer – NO! I don't think a business degree is anywhere near being a waste. A business degree is worth it in many cases.

EDIT: Please read my post about how I paid off $40,000 worth of student loans shortly after I turned 24.

Recently, I read an interesting article about whether a business degree is a waste or a good decision.

I read the article multiple times (and unless I missed it), I'm pretty sure it means business schools as a whole (and the various degrees that are offered), and not just specifically a “business degree.”

So when they say business degree, I'm assuming this includes Finance, Economics, Accounting, etc. [Read more…]

How We Handled $32,000 in Student Loans

February 21, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 39 Comments

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Hey everyone! Today I have a guest post to mark off the second week in my debt payoff series. I asked readers and friends to submit guest posts regarding anything relating to their debt. Enjoy! If you would like to participate, please e-mail me at senseofcents@gmail.com. Today's post is about a reader's student loans. Read further if you would like to read about my wonderful $38,000 student loan plan.

Almost eleven years ago I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and $15K in debt.

I was lucky to only have this much in loans as my parents for some and I had paid cash for two years myself by working summers in high school.

My husband had an additional $12K that he owed and when we married two years later we combined it.

Over the course of 6 years we made it a priority to pay these off. Every year when we got our tax money back we paid down on these loans. We started with the biggest one first (mine) and then used the money we saved on not having to pay mine and doubled down on paying his. [Read more…]

How To Pay for Graduate School

February 13, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 54 Comments

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The other day a reader e-mailed and said he needed some help. I always tell you all that I welcome your e-mails all the time, so if you have a question that you would like me or my readers to answer, then go on and ask. If you don't know the answer or want more opinions, I'm sure that there are plenty of other people who are wondering the exact same thing.

This reader e-mailed me after (what I'm assuming) reading my numerous posts about how I want my student loans gone. I do talk about it in nearly every post as it CONSUMES my life it seems like. I graduated with approximately $38,000 in student loan debt… This does include two undergraduate degrees and my Finance MBA though.

Here is the e-mail that I received:

“Son wants to go to law school in about 6 months. Spouse and I have put him through undergrad debt-free (along with a number of perks – studying abroad, travelling abroad, car, insurance etc).

Law school is outrageously expensive and even with his scholarships he's going to be paying out of pocket $30-$40,000/ year. They max out your Stafford loans for law school at $20,500 so just exactly where do we makeup that additional $10-$20,000 a year?

We could (and may) tap our retirement funds – and take the hit on that tax wise and penalty-wise, but I am NOT under any circumstances taking out a parent plus loan.”

[Read more…]

1. High debt and fear of loans

Here is the e-mail that I received:

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