Tackle the seemingly impossible
Paying off college debt may seem impossible for many of us. I know I am not in the best shape to pay off my debt after school, but it’s something that we’re going to have to do. Sorry to break it to you, but there is no magic, instant solution. It’s going to take some time, but with a process with steps in place it should make it easier.
One of the easiest ways to start is by making a budget and sticking to it. I wrote a blog about this exact topic which you may find interesting, if you want to take a read. It’s critical that you find out your payoff date therefore you can figure out your monthly payments. A key to paying off your debt sooner is to pay more than the minimum payment. This will help you in the long run since you’ll pay less in interest in total. If you started out with the average student loan debt of $38,792 with the industry average of 5.8% on a 10-year loan. The minimum monthly payment is $426.78. With interest you’d pay $51,489, which adds $12,697 of interest on the total. If you pay 20% more each month you would pay off your loan in 8 years and save $2,794.04 in interest. Just by paying about $86 more a month, you shave off 2 years of your payment life and almost $3,000!
There are more ways to pay off debt than I have listed, so I encourage you to research for yourself and find the best possible option. I know many people have more debt than the national average and obviously that will change your payment term and amount you can pay per month. We just need to do what we can and eventually it will be over with.
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