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I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

benjaminlabaschin.com

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Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#71

Post by armoredkitten »

That's an impressive accomplishment, although the comments here are rightly mostly about the absurdity of student debt.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to graduate debt-free, through a combination of a) attending school in Canada, where tuition costs are less absurd than the US; b) some money my parents saved for their children's education; and c) participation in a co-op education model. Basically, alternating between one semester in school, one semester at a co-op job, and no summers off (though really, how many college students go home for the summer and take a job at Starbucks anyway?). I graduated having financed my education by myself after the first year, and with ~2 years of (relevant) work experience already under my belt. The connections from one of those jobs also ended up helping me get the job I have now.

Like I said, I feel very fortunate, and this approach won't necessarily fit all use cases. But I heartily recommend a co-op education model any chance I get. Even if it could help you avoid taking on $10k in student debt, that feels like a win.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#73

Post by EconoBen »

tayo42 wrote: post #37

This is an abnormal amount of debt, I think this gets headlines and people riled up. 140k for 4 years of school is not normal. The average school debt is 40k. Maybe school is expensive, this is excessive and bad decision making. Maybe you could say that there is a subset that needs help avoiding this but most do. Public schools and community colleges are doable and affordable and with a little work you can get schola…

yeah, absolutely abnormal.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#74

Post by EconoBen »

jve wrote: post #44

The chart is weird/misleading: https://benjaminlabaschin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/gar... Drawing $17xx bar and slapping $1494,97 onto it... whereas other bars match the label with the height. I just couldn't parse how $1,4xx - $1,4yy would end up $408,56. And then in the text there is a number not charted: $1902 to just add to confusion, but OK, that's not what you get on hand. And then "$1106.42 per month, my…

fixed.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#76

Post by beej71 »

aehrhawrg wrote: post #7
jqpabc123 wrote: post #6

The cost of higher education has been increasing at 3-4x inflation for decades. It has finally nullified any socio-economic advantage it once held as evidenced by the large number of graduates unable to repay their student loans. The solution --- stop steering your kids toward college. AI is working toward eliminating many of these "careers" in the near future anyway. Instead, orient them toward entrepreneurism. A bu…

This position would have more merit if it held equally true across all degrees. Not counting the inevitable graduates in every field that don't pan out, is it actually equally true for every degree though? Usually when I see people unable to pay their student loans it's my friends who went for the humanities or the soft sciences. The people who chose their degree by treating it as an investment they wanted as high a…

There are a lot of degrees that fail to pay enough to cover the loans required to get them, e.g. teacher, speech language pathologist, etc. And that's a bummer because we need people like that. So we apply bandaids like PSLF to make those degrees viable. It's a mess.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#77

Post by jqpabc123 »

jcpst wrote: post #23
jqpabc123 wrote: post #6

The cost of higher education has been increasing at 3-4x inflation for decades. It has finally nullified any socio-economic advantage it once held as evidenced by the large number of graduates unable to repay their student loans. The solution --- stop steering your kids toward college. AI is working toward eliminating many of these "careers" in the near future anyway. Instead, orient them toward entrepreneurism. A bu…

That doesn’t work for everyone though. I work for an employer because I don’t want to spend time running a business. It’s just not worth it for a lot of us. I don’t even ever want to be a manager. I’d rather just put in my 40 hours as an individual contributor and then have the remainder of my time to do whatever I need/want.

I’d rather just put in my 40 hours as an individual contributor and then have the remainder of my time to do whatever I need/want.

If you think like a corporate slave, that is what you will always be --- looking forward to the next layoff.

One of my neighbors runs a landscape business --- no college dregree. He has 8 crews and a manager. I'll bet he makes more than you and spends less time doing it.

He works about 3 hours a day --- which mostly involves riding around to make sure the work is getting done as he talks to clients on phone.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#78

Post by jqpabc123 »

tigeroil wrote: post #52
jcpst wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn’t work for everyone though. I work for an employer because I don’t want to spend time running a business. It’s just not worth it for a lot of us. I don’t even ever want to be a manager. I’d rather just put in my 40 hours as an individual contributor and then have the remainder of my time to do whatever I need/want.

I feel like this is a massively underappreciated view in general. I always see people talking about how brilliant it is to run your own business / be your own boss, but I think there's immense value in just finishing and going home at the end of the day. I say this as a director of a SaaS company...

I think there's immense value in just finishing and going home at the end of the day.

There's more value in finishing and going home by noon --- or not even leaving the house at all if you don't feel like it.

I know people without a college degree who do this and make very good money.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#79

Post by travisgriggs »

I enjoyed reading this. The long form was engaging. I appreciate the author being up front about not trying to be prescriptive with his journey, more just descriptive.

Honestly, the sense of despair people have in getting jobs is so sad to me. I've interacted with other young adults who are in the same situation. This sense of "I played the game the way I thought I was supposed to and now this??". I do all I can to help them connect them with others, but it's still really disappointing.

I was glad he "made it" in the end, but I'm not convinced that "near mental breakdowns" are healthy and worth it. And then... survivorship bias. For every talented person like this that excels academically and has a flair for long for story telling, there's another 9 or 99, that don't, and are still stuck in the trenches, and they don't even have the time/resources to write their equally emotive but even more shitty story.

Re: I Paid Off $194k in Student Loans in Six Years. It Wasn’t Easy

#80

Post by EconoBen »

travisgriggs wrote: post #79

I enjoyed reading this. The long form was engaging. I appreciate the author being up front about not trying to be prescriptive with his journey, more just descriptive. Honestly, the sense of despair people have in getting jobs is so sad to me. I've interacted with other young adults who are in the same situation. This sense of "I played the game the way I thought I was supposed to and now this??". I do all I can to h…

I wish I could emphasize this comment more. Thank you for posting this. This reflects my thoughts exactly and the purpose of the post. There are so many more people whose stories you don't hear, who go through much harder times than I did, and who do not "make it" like I have.

If anything, I think that should be the story. You make choices to try to dig yourself out, and you end up digging yourself further down the hole.

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