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[xtiana]

Every time I look at my student loans, I want to die

Comments

[xtiana]

Well, I do have a paid internship, but it's not a lot of money. It's in the field I want to be in, and I love the job, but I wish it paid just a little more. It's hard right now when I'm trying to save money, and I just spent almost $700 to go to this wedding in a few weeks. I'd like to get a part-time job to help out, but with all the traveling I'm going to be doing every other weekend for work and commuting, I don't see that happening.

Thanks for the empathy. It helps.

[klindy]

I know you might have already, but they did pass the new law this year about student loans. One of the major changes was that you can scale your payments to your income. Have you looked into that? Sorry if a stupid suggestion but just in case you didn't know about that.

[xtiana]

Yeah, I looked into that briefly, but I started feeling really overwhelmed and I had to walk away. My brother is in banking so he said he'd sit down with me to help, and so did Rachel who has a degree in economics. I just hope I can scale my payments down at least for the duration of my internship. Otherwise about 90% of my paycheck will go to loan payments. :(

[fazeout]

I feel for you. :( You know, I was on year tres of my undergrad (riding a free ride no less) when I stepped out to take a management position at i-55, and it's worked out for me so far as I'm not terribly far away from 6 figures at 30, but, that being said, I have my own debt based vices, the lovely 100+ k mortgage for instance. The important thing is to keep on moving, as long as you have something coming in and the ambition to better yourself you'll get through it. I feel sorry for my friends with masters edging up on 30 who are either still in food service or clinging to university because that's all they've known their ENTIRE adult lives. It's true that at some point you've got to cut and MAKE a living. As little as my opinion matters; I think you're on the right path. ;-)

[xtiana]

Thanks, Chris. I feel like I'm in a position that no matter what I do -- going off to grad school, paying my way to work for free in Vancouver, and taking this internship instead of doing something else that paid more -- it's not enough. I know I have to be patient, but constantly getting notices to make payments on my loans stresses me out.

And your opinion does matter. :) On another note, since I live down here again I'll have to come stop in Hammond sometime.

[digitalpimp]

I finished with $25K in loans. I try to put more on the loan than is required (to at least match the interest payment).

Check out my journal... i'll list some steps to help you and anyone with financial woes.

[xtiana]

Thanks! With 2 degrees, mine is a lot more than that.