Thursday, June 18, 2009

A New Milestone

Eleven years after graduating from law school, I've finally achieved a milestone that I've long given up hope on accomplishing - my student loan balance is finally under six-digits! Woo to the hoo!

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Between 1995-1998, I originally took out :
  • $25,500 in Federal Stafford Loans, $30,000 in Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
  • $47,325 in Private Student Loans
  • $4,100 I borrowed through the Federal Perkins Loan program. (Paid off on 3/5/07.)
My original student loan amount in 1998: $106,925
My current combined student loan balance: $99,877.98

And keep in mind, I still haven't paid my monthly Stafford loans yet. At the end of the month, my student loan balance would be even lower.

Ohhhh... as the Seven Dwarfs sang, I (still) owe, I owe, so off to work for da Man I go...

10 comments:

Bouncing Back said...

That is a great milestone! I know a lot of people in the PF world think student loans are horrible, terrible things, they are not. I think student loans are a waste of money IF you en dup dropping out of school to follow the Grateful Dead (I had a classmate do that) or switch majors and schools 4 times.

I had to take out loans to pay for my undergrad and graduate education and don't regret one penny of the loan or interest.

Money Beagle said...

Congrats on the milestone! Now you can set new milestones to keep you motivated to paying it down! My wife has two loans and we've set various milestones over time pertaining to the total balance (like you did) or to one individual balance (e.g. Loan A dropping below the balance of Loan B or Loan A dropping below $10,000).

Keep up the good work and keep us updated!

444 said...

That's awesome. It must be a sight for sore eyes.

And Shtinky, are you actually an attorney? I keep forgetting that (if I ever really knew it...) You're not going to charge 15 minutes' worth of your hourly rate every time you talk to me, are you? My last attorney did that when she made a 30-second phone call to me, I think. :o/ It's been a while. She got all her dough and we don't have a need to talk anymore. :oD

Shtinkykat said...

@ Bouncing Back: Thanks! I agree that student loans are one of the few debts that are worthwhile. But I do want to add the caveat that it's still no excuse to take out way more than one can reasonably be expected to pay off after graduation.

@ MoneyBeagle: Yep! I think my next milestone is to get the debt under the $90k mark. Thanks for the words of encouragement.

@ 444: As I jokingly tell people, I'm not an attorney, I only play one on TV. Basically, I'm licensed but I'm not practicing. I don't have malpractice insurance so I would NEVER give anyone any legal advice and I would never charge for my 2 cents. :-D

Christine said...

You've done a great job! That's like when I was so freakin' happy to get my auto loan under $10K. Keep up the wonderful work. :)

...I owe, I owe, off to work I go

The Lost Goat said...

grats!

mapgirl said...

Hey! That is good news! Despite the stock sale loss, you are making progress in your debt and that is what really matters. (Debt will steal your stock dividends anyway.)

Miss M said...

Awesome, just keep plugging away. It will eventually disappear. I know I was very lucky to escape school with little debt. I'm cheering you on.

Abigail said...

Woot, woot!

I'm glad you are making some progress on your goals. I know it can feel hard at times. We're barely chipping away at our debt. It can feel very upsetting sometimes. So it's nice to hit a milestone and be able to celebrate.

Bradley said...

Hmmm. You're carrying $100K on loans that you've had since 1998 (if I read correctly), you went to law school but you don't practice law. What, may I ask, was/is the point?