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stargazingboi · 05-13-2012, 07:10 PM

An interesting thread indeed. I can't say I was mislead at all. I knew what I was getting into and the sacrifices that would follow. I was lucky in many ways, the Pell grant covered a good portion of my undergrad, but still I walked away with about 20,000 in debt.

Right after completing my undergrad I decided to continue my education. As many people know, once you obtain your BA the funding is limited. I researched scholarships, and other ways to obtain financing. I stumbled on a trainieship through the school I was attending and applied. They would give me money and I would give my service after graduating. This meant that for every year they gave me money, I owed them two years of working in the public or nonprofit arena. If I were to choose to go private the monies would become a loan and repayment would then be expected.

I was given over $30,000 towards my Master's degree. I then only had to take out another $25,000 in student loans to complete my education. Totaling about $45,000 in debt at graduation, which equaled over $550 a month in student loan payments.

I was lucky enough to obtain a position before walking across the stage. I decided that I would rather sacrifice now than later and kept the 10 year agreement. I did not rush to consolidate nor did I rush to extend the life of the loan...but I am also very aware of how lucky I was to snag a job in my field, in a nonprofit sector, that paid me enough to be able to do this.

This past year I was given notice of a program that would allow me to consolidate my loans, reduce my payments, and lower my interest rate. I had them base it on my income...which dropped my payments down about $150 a month for the first 12 months. After the first 12 months it will drop again by another $75. While keeping my 10 year agreement. With the drop of the interest rate I will also save about $15,000 over the life of the loan.

I feel for my fellow classmates as I know many of them walked away with over $120,000 in debt and upon graduating they had to consolidate and extend their loan times to 20-30 years. So, I am thankful each day I do not face that burden.

So, do I think my education was worth it? Yes, yes I do. I wouldn't change a thing about it, as I am happy in the work that I do..I wake up each morning looking forward to the day ahead.

05-13-2012, 07:10 PM	#9
stargazingboi Senior Member How Do You Identify?: ~ Preferred Pronoun?: ~ Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: ~ Posts: 1,954 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 10,392 Thanked 8,318 Times in 1,626 Posts Rep Power: 21474853	An interesting thread indeed. I can't say I was mislead at all. I knew what I was getting into and the sacrifices that would follow. I was lucky in many ways, the Pell grant covered a good portion of my undergrad, but still I walked away with about 20,000 in debt. Right after completing my undergrad I decided to continue my education. As many people know, once you obtain your BA the funding is limited. I researched scholarships, and other ways to obtain financing. I stumbled on a trainieship through the school I was attending and applied. They would give me money and I would give my service after graduating. This meant that for every year they gave me money, I owed them two years of working in the public or nonprofit arena. If I were to choose to go private the monies would become a loan and repayment would then be expected. I was given over $30,000 towards my Master's degree. I then only had to take out another $25,000 in student loans to complete my education. Totaling about $45,000 in debt at graduation, which equaled over $550 a month in student loan payments. I was lucky enough to obtain a position before walking across the stage. I decided that I would rather sacrifice now than later and kept the 10 year agreement. I did not rush to consolidate nor did I rush to extend the life of the loan...but I am also very aware of how lucky I was to snag a job in my field, in a nonprofit sector, that paid me enough to be able to do this. This past year I was given notice of a program that would allow me to consolidate my loans, reduce my payments, and lower my interest rate. I had them base it on my income...which dropped my payments down about $150 a month for the first 12 months. After the first 12 months it will drop again by another $75. While keeping my 10 year agreement. With the drop of the interest rate I will also save about $15,000 over the life of the loan. I feel for my fellow classmates as I know many of them walked away with over $120,000 in debt and upon graduating they had to consolidate and extend their loan times to 20-30 years. So, I am thankful each day I do not face that burden. So, do I think my education was worth it? Yes, yes I do. I wouldn't change a thing about it, as I am happy in the work that I do..I wake up each morning looking forward to the day ahead.