The only thing I want to add is that in my opinion this article isn't extreme enough. Also:
- The total amount of student loan debt in American is now about $1 trillion, which is more than the total credit card debt in this country. The graduating class of 2009 carried an average of nearly $25,000 of student loans.
Yeah. I'm guilty of pretty much all those things. Thing is, I used to be really good at managing my money. Then I went off to grad school in an expensive city and suddenly my debt went haywire. I like to say that I had a grad baby since a degree and a baby pretty much cost the same these days. Fortunately for me, I have a dad who tells me he loves me by giving me big chunks of cash, so I'm climbing out of debt at a reasonable rate. $46,000 to go....
We owe over $250k in student loan debt. Can you imagine? I try not to think of it.
I read stories about people like you :) Seriously though, seems like the interest would be higher than the monthly payments. How do you reduce the principle on something like that?
Even with working part time it's very hard to pay for school. My pay goes primarily towards groceries and gas, the rest goes into my checkings account for emergency purposes. None of it actually goes toward paying for school, but it helps lower the cost by making it so I don't have to spend much if any money on dining plans.
Scary stuff ahead. Fortunately in Australia university fees aren't as high as in America
Is selling your Les Paul and Fender Super Reverb amp on the list? In seriousness, I definitely fell prey to credit card debt when I turned 18.