Ok, so this is our story with student loans. It’s short and sweet. We don’t have any.
What?!?! How can you have two masters degrees between two spouses and no student loans?
Oh, you must come from rich parents who paid for your schooling. Or trust fund babies. What do you have to teach us about student loans?
Ok, first of all, let’s clarify. Student loans weren’t our drug of choice. Cars and rental properties at the height of the housing bubble that then burst in 2008 and left us in ruins were our debt drugs of choice. Everyone has their debt “gateway drug”. Credit cards. Student loans. Ours was rental houses as we bought into the hype of flipping houses and getting rentals using OPM (other people’s money). It completely bit us in the butt.
Becky’s Story
Becky came from a very poor family. Mom went through a divorce that left her with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Those years were as bad as it gets. Going to bed hungry. No warm clothes for the winter. Mom remarried, but there was so much debt. So, so much debt to the IRS of all people. So she got a job at age 16 and worked 40 hours a week. Lucky for her, she was bright and did well in school.
The reason why she never got student loans? Did she get grants? Nope. She did get a one year scholarship.
This is where luck kicked in a little. You see, her Mom owed the IRS so she never ever seemed to file her taxes on time. Becky couldn’t get her mom to fill out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). No FAFSA, therefore no grants and no student loans. She didn’t even know you couldget a student loan when she graduated from high school. She was the first to go to college in her family, so as far as she knew you could either get a scholarship or paid cash or you didn’t go.
She knew she wanted to go to college—she had dreams of being a doctor but without the cash that was not going to happen so she enrolled in the nursing program. She had a scholarship for the first year and then paid in cash for the remaining time, working 40 hours a week.
In her case, lack of savvy was a protection against student loans.
Ben’s Story
I came from an upper middle class family that paid for schooling until I got married, which was 1 ½ years prior to graduating. Once we were married, student loans were still not on the table so I continued at the university to get my Bachelors in Business while Becky went from the university to the local community college to get her nursing degree.
Our Story
After 10 years of being a nurse, she decided to become a nurse practitioner. Again, student loans were not even a question. Which is hilarious when you consider that we had borrowed money for cars in the past. The mind is a murky place. Loans for cars and rental properties? Sign us up. Student loans-not an option.
It was stunning that in her nurse practitioner cohort, she was the only one out of the 20 students who did not take out student loans. Yes, the curriculum was rigorous. Not going to lie, it was not for the faint of heart to work full time and go to school full time during her program. Between school time and papers, her job as a nurse, and her precepting hours she was working 7 days per week for the 3 ½ years of her program. It was quite the commitment. On the other side of the coin, there were students who took out loans for both the tuition cost and for their living expenses.
Results: Upon graduation, Becky could take any job she wanted that fit our lifestyle and in her preferred area. For the students who took out student loans to the hilt, they could only choose the higher paying jobs, usually working more hours with less work/life balance and possibly not in their area of choice. Not the way you want to start your new career.
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