Student Loans

I know that most of the people who follow my other blog and my youtube page are slightly younger than I am, and because of this, I feel like it is my responsibility to tell you guys, dear readers, something extremely important that I've only just recently learned.

I recently graduated from college with a large amount of student debt, which isn't uncommon.  I'm paying back $268.48 every month for the next ten years -- 120 monthly payments of $268.48.  That's, well, a lot of money.

Why am I telling you this?  I'm not going to ask you to donate to paypal or anything like that, so why am I telling you how much I'm paying on my student loans?  Because as current (or future) college students, you need to know what I wish I had know while I was a student:

Start paying back your student loans while you are still a student.

Looking back now, it seems as if that should have been common sense.  When I got my refund check back every semester, I should have put most (or at least some) of it towards paying back my student loans.  Instead, a good chunk of it went towards buying textbooks (which I needed..), new clothes, CDs, and other things I really didn't need.  I used it to buy a new laptop (that I needed) and a guitar (that I really didn't).  A lot went towards the study-abroad trip I went on.  But instead of buying clothes or CDs or a guitar, I should have put it right back towards student loans.

Why should you start paying back your student loans while you're still a student?  I know no one wants to think about paying back those loans, but once you graduate (or drop below full-time), you have no choice but to think about it.  Starting to pay them back before you graduate will save you money!  While you are a full-time student, you don't have to pay interest on your student loans.

Let's take a look at that $268 I had to pay this month.


Over half of what I had to pay was just interest!  Interest accrues (increases) daily, so where I took my loans from recommends making larger payments whenever possible.  However, while you're a full-time student, you can make payments without paying back interest and your interest does not increase while you're full-time.

http://www.myfedloan.org/help-center/faq/interest-faq.shtml

Look, I'm not your parent so I can't tell any of you what to do.  But because I care far too much about people, I sincerely hope you will learn from my mistake and make payments while you're still in school.

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