November 21, 2019 - Megan Beighley
Student loans are something that many people take out in order to pay for schooling. It’s very difficult because taking too many out can put you in a lot of debt that you will be stuck paying back over multiple years after you graduate. However, this is not always the case. When I was first looking at going to college, I was planning on going to a community college. This was appealing to me because of how much money I could save by living at home and having a smaller tuition price! I knew I was expected to pay for college on my own and I didn’t want to have to pay for a four-year University. Once I started looking more seriously into going to a four-year college, I realized that it is inevitable that I will have to take out a loan for college and, as stated earlier, it’s more normal to come out of college with debt rather then debt free. Obviously, I ended up going to a four-year university, here at UWL, and I did have to take out a loan my first year to help pay. In my second and third years at UWL, I was a resident assistant which was a hard job, but I did save quite a bit of money during that time.
I have been quite a penny pincher in my years of college (thanks mom!), and it has helped me to save money while also paying student bills. Throughout the last few years I have gone home every few weekends – just an hour away in Rochester Minnesota! When I go home, I work at Trader Joes and typically get around 16 hours for the weekend. That money just goes right into my savings account to pay off my loans. Just this past semester, I was able to pay off that student loan I took out my first year!
Some tips that I always like to share are the following:
Skip on the fancy coffees – I like to treat myself to one every so often, but I also like to just make it at home to save so much money!
Be sure to use the earn-save=spend equation to be sure you are putting money aside every month to help save for your future!
Make sure you know how to navigate the nslds.ed.gov website so that when it’s time to pay off those loans, you’re comfortable with the site!
With the money you are saving, start putting it towards your loan as soon as you feel comfortable especially if it is an unsubsidized loan that already is having interest being accrued. It is difficult to graduate college with zero debt, but it is not impossible. If you do graduate with debt, don’t worry! As long as you have a plan that you will stick with, you will be set to pay off your loan before you know it 😊
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