Recently, I posted on Facebook that I had made my last student loan payment and was debt free. I received several follow-up messages from friends asking about my process and, since enough people asked, I thought I would write about it here.
For context: I'm in the humanities (specifically writing studies and women's and gender studies) and I was in college/grad school for ~12 years. Here's the break down of that:
- Bachelor's degree (graduated 2011) - 4 years and 1 summer session
- Master's degree (graduated 2013) - 2 years and 1 summer session
- Graduate certificate (graduated 2017) - 2 years (completed during my doctoral program)
- Doctorate (graduated 2019) - 4 years
I was extremely fortunate that my parents paid for my bachelor's degree (tuition and room and board and living expenses), so I had no debt from my undergrad (thanks, Mom and Dad!). When I was about to start my master's degree, I took out student loans to pay my tuition and to cover some living expenses (I worked various odd jobs during my master's program that barely paid for my rent and groceries - in the print center at Office Max, as a nanny, as a research assistant in the social work program at my university, as a counselor at a summer camp, etc.).
Sidebar: Going into my master's program, I knew nothing about grad school or student loans and didn't realize it was not a good choice to go into debt for that degree. I learned later that many grad programs provide tuition assistance and a stipend, but my program didn't offer either. The benefits of a humanities degree do not often outweigh the costs, so looking back, I wish I would have found a funded master's program. I ended up owing about $20,000 in student loans for my master's.
During the two years between my master's and doctorate, I worked as an adjunct instructor (if you don't know what that means, check out this article) and was only able to make small payments on my loan. I was lucky enough to be accepted to my doctoral program with an assistantship and a stipend, so most of my tuition was covered. However, I did have to pay some fees each semester, which added up to about $1,000 ($1,000 x 8 semesters = $8,000). In addition, my assistantship was also not enough to live on (it was about $600 every two weeks). Several colleagues took out loans to pay the extra fees and to live on, but with the loan from my master's degree hanging over my head, I couldn't justify going into more debt. I picked up other jobs and side hustles to pay the fees each semester and to make ends meet. I taught online courses for other schools, did photography sessions, and found childcare jobs through Care.com (in addition to my assistantship, which consisted of teaching, mentoring, website development, and/or shooting photography, depending on the semester). It was tough, but I completed my graduate certificate and doctorate without adding any more student loan debt.
It's also worth noting that I got married right before the end of my master's program, so I had a partner with an income during my doctorate. However, he works in ministry and church salaries are notoriously low (not quite as low as my grad school stipend, but close). As a result, he worked side hustles, too (mostly at coffee shops or in retail). While we lived paycheck to paycheck and often went without, we were happy and tried our best to live within our means.
While the loan from my master's was deferred during my doctoral program, the payments kicked in again right after graduating in 2019. I had just spent a year on the job market, traveling and going to conferences, and we were about to move so that I could begin my new job (for more on that, read here). The traveling and moving expenses added up and ended up on our credit card. My partner, Justin, had also experienced a workplace injury that year. While at one of his jobs, a 400 lb. sign fell and crushed his leg, resulting in lots of medical bills and time off work. His paycheck made up most of our income, but we didn't receive a paycheck from worker's comp for almost 8 weeks. It was stressful, and while we cut down where we could, most of our living expenses during that time ended up on the credit card. Also, worker's comp decided to appeal all of the medical procedures, claiming they weren't necessary (after doctors had recommended them and we agreed under the impression that worker's comp would pay). They won and we were stuck with thousands of dollars of medical debt.
We moved in July 2019 and I saw it as a fresh start. We were going to be a one-income family for awhile since Justin was starting a new venture with a college ministry that required him to raise his own salary and ministry budget (we moved in July and he didn't start receiving a paycheck until March), but I was committed to paying down the debt as quickly as possible. We were frugal and saved as much as we could. I budgeted a certain amount each week and the rest went toward debt repayment. We started with smaller debts, which included our car loan, medical debt, and the credit card we used to buy furniture after the move. Once those were paid off in about 3-4 months, I moved to our credit card and paid that off in about 6 months. Right after that (in June 2020), I took advantage of the CARES Act (which prevented federal student loans from accruing any interest) and started making aggressive payments on my student loans (I had one subsidized and one unsubsidized). My goal was to pay it off before interest kicked back in on December 31st (it has since been extended) and I met that goal.
I am fortunate and grateful that my family hasn't been financially impacted by COVID-19. Since we were in quarantine for quite some time (and we honestly still don't get out and do much), we were able to save more than we had before and this gave us a boost in the funds we had available for debt repayment. I feel incredibly blessed that we were able to tackle this kind of debt repayment during a worldwide pandemic, and I know this approach isn't possible for everyone. The keys for us were living within our means, budgeting a weekly amount and not going over, picking up side hustles where we could (I'm still booking photography shoots if you are in the Evansville area!), and putting any bit of extra money toward debt repayment.
A few other suggestions:
- Delegate based on strengths. I'm the saver in my family and my partner is the spender; as a result, I handle most of our finances.
- If you have to have a side hustle, try to make it something you enjoy. I had lots of cool jobs throughout my educational journey that I am thankful for (the job as the counselor at the summer camp for at-risk youth was the most rewarding).
- Don't get too overwhelmed. Any repayment toward debt is progress, even if it's not much. (That said, make sure you are still considering your interest rates!).
- Cut costs where you can. I found those quick trips into the convenience store a few times a week for an iced tea really added up.
- School is hard, but if you can work, do it. I'm incredibly grateful now that I had so many job opportunities during my doctorate. (However, the fact that I had to work so many jobs during my doctorate is evidence that the higher education system is broken and grad students are not supported like they should be, but that's a rant for another day).
- It gets better. Just because your job/financial situation is not ideal now doesn't mean it will be that way forever. Save what you can, even if it's not much.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions that I didn't answer here, I'd be happy to follow up with you. You can send me a message on Facebook or reach out via the Contact tab on my website.
Stay safe, stay healthy, keep thriving (or surviving - we are still in a pandemic, after all).
