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How to Get Out of Student Loan Debts

I met a young man in the name of Joe this month at a forum organized by an NGO to educate young graduates on how they can manage their student loans. It is no longer news that a lot of American students graduate with load of student loan debts. Out of about five hundred graduates that were present in the gathering, almost all of them were carrying student loan debts. This may not be a true representative of the statistics of American graduates with student loan debts. The reason is that, the forum was actually organized to educate young graduates on how to manage their debts. Therefore, you should expect that those who that would be in attendance would most likely be people with one debt or the other.

After the facilitator of the program addressed the participants, he called on this young radiant man who should be around 27 years old. The young man introduced himself as Joe. He came to share the story of how he paid off his student loan debts of $35,125 within two years. Below is the except of his story.

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“I am Joe and I graduated from University about three years ago. Just like an average American, I graduated with student loan debts of $35,125. The debt would have been more if not that I worked part time especially during holidays to generate some income. I also tried as much as possible to cut my expenses. I remember that most of the textbooks I used were either borrowed or bought second hand. Don’t let me go too deep into that since how I cut costs might not be relevant to you as such. Some of you are already into debts. So, what should be important to you is how you can quickly get out of the debts. I am not here to boast of myself. But I just want to encourage you that getting out of debt and living a debt free life is possible. You don’t have to live your entire life in debts neither should you die with debts. By looking around, I can see that most of the people present here should be within or below my age range. Therefore, I believe that if I share my story of how I paid off my student loan debts of $35,125 within two years, it will be helpful to you. So, how did I make it happen? This is how it all went”

“Before I graduated, I already knew that I would definitely graduate with debts which I had to pay. All my student loans were co-signed by my parents. I said to myself that I must not jeopardize their creditworthiness. I made up my mind that I was not going to disappoint them. So, I started reading different articles on how people paid off their student loan debts. In fact, I can tell you that internet is full of good resources. I read about many people who successfully paid off their student loan debts within two years. Any time I read the stories, I felt motivated. I no longer saw my own student loans as a concern. I said to myself, “if people with $40,000, $50,000 or above could pay off their student loan debts, then I can do it too” This “I can do it” attitude really fueled me. That was how I strongly determined that I would pay all my student loan debts within two years and I wrote it down. Every day, I would pick up the paper where I wrote the statement and declared it loudly that I would paid off my student loan debts within two years.

Of course, talk is cheap! I needed to come up with strategy of how to make it happen. This was not difficult to me since I already knew what other people did that helped them come out of their own debts. One thing I did that I could say that really helped me achieve this goal was my decision to live with my parents after graduation. This alone save me over $1,000 in rent every month. With this saving, I was able to make $1,500 monthly payment towards repaying my student loans. The truth is that, I did not feel the pain of paying back the loan. It was a twenty four months count down which I followed religiously. With this set goal, I tried as much as possible to cut down my expenses. Thanks for the supports of my parents.

Why do I need to share this story? I feel concerned any time I see people with student loans and they still feel as if nothing is at stake. They still rent big apartment and live a flamboyant life. This type of lifestyles will not help them get out debt. Even though lenders do encourage you that you can make just make minimum payment every month. This will keep you in debt perpetually. You will discover that even though you make your payment every month, the debts still remain. What happens is that, your payments are just going towards paying the interest on the loan with just little amount towards the principal. Lenders enjoy this. At least, their interest income is guaranteed every month.

There are certain things you can easily sacrifice when you are still young. For example, it was easy for me to live with my parents at my age. By the time I got married, I had already moved out. So, if you have the same opportunity I had, you should make most of it. Living with your parents temporarily will help you pay off your student loan debts quickly. I believe what I am saying make sense to you.

Thank you for granting me your audience”

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There was a lot of applause after his speech, although with mixed reactions.  While some seemed to have just discovered the secret that will help them pay off their student loans, others are like saying “why haven’t I done this?”

For people reading this article, I want to believe that you can borrow a leaf from Joe’s experience. The ball is now in your court.

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