This was originially posted on kimschoenherr.wordpress.com on August 29, 2011.
Recently, I’ve been trying to figure how long it’s going to take me to save up enough money to buy a house. I had it figured that between the job that I hope to return to in December, my gargantuan tax return, and my savings, I would be able to put a decent down payment on a starter home by May. Too bad I forgot one thing.
Student loans.
I had it all calculated in my head this morning, and I was beating myself up for taking out $70,000 in loans, thinking that I would NEVER be able to pay it all off! I thought I had done so well, saving about $10,000 by graduating a semester early. My tuition averages (with the hikes EVERY YEAR!) to about $20,000 a year (I started at $19,000 and now I’m at $22,000) and I ended up taking out loans for every penny. I thought.
Just a few minutes ago, I realized that a HUGE chunk of my tuition was paid by Pell grants. While it doesn’t bring me down to the average of $26,000, it still brings me down to (including this year) $50,000.
This is my biggest regret in life. I didn’t apply for any scholarships (even though I was eligible for some pretty big ones and could have gotten a few) because I was lazy. I could have spent a few hours writing essays and getting money for college, but I didn’t. And now I’m going to pay the price. Granted, it’s $20,000 less than what I thought it would be, which is a load off my mind, but I’m going to be putting 100% of my taxes, and probably around 50% of my future salary towards my student loans for the next 6 years. That means that even if I can get a great job, I’m going to look for a second, weekend job to try to pay off my loans. That means that I won’t be able to visit Chris as much after I graduate because I’m going to be putting all of my money towards my loans. That means I won’t be able to buy a house for a year or two unless I figure out a ways to make my money work. And then I won’t be able to buy as big of a house as I’d like.
It’s kind of upsetting, looking back, but obviously that means that I’ll have to work even harder over the next few months, at my job at school, and making things to sell online, at promoting my online sales, and at coming up with cheap alternatives to food. I’ve been looking at great, simple recipes on startcooking.com, which are basic recipes for beginners.
Has anyone else been recently disappointed by your prospective situation? Is anyone preparing to graduate and realize that you royally screwed up? Anyone have any ideas of how I can make $50,000 quickly and morally? I didn’t think so.
Student debt picture found here
