how amazing did you feel when you finally paid off massive student loans?

[Anonymous]

I graduated from law school 18.5 years ago with $160k in student loans. Have had a very unusual career since then, interesting but without much stability or great $$ - and anyway, I still owe $42k. I remember getting to $100k, then $50k, and each time starting to feel like maybe one day - one day! - the end would be in sight.

Just checked a student loan calculator and saw that if I can put $1500/month toward these babies then I can be done for good in 2.5 years. The very thought of it is like a huge weight lifting. It's hard to even contemplate that if I can just sacrifice for the next couple of years, I can be DONE. (Knock wood a thousand times.)

So please help me stay motivated by telling me HOW AMAZING you felt when the loans were finally gone! What did you do with the extra $$ every month? How much less stress did you feel? Please tell me your stories of joy and freedom!

[Anonymous]

Pretty f’ing amazing, that’s how!!! Keep going OP! You’re doing great and you’re almost there. DH and I had somewhere ~$100k left on student loans left two years ago (plus a car loan) when I decided I was sick of paying off them every month only to see no change in the balance. We started throwing money at them and finished paying them all off in April of this year (we had some windfalls along the way that sped up our timeline). I thought I was going to have those hanging over us still when our oldest starts college in 9 years, so happy to have them done with finally.

(I’ve posted here before - but it was this board that made me see the light and face how intimidated I was by the student loan debt. Between the student loans and car- that we paid off first- and our mortgage, we’ve paid over $150k towards debt in 2 years. Now we’re in a position to be able to start investing for the future instead of paying for the past and all its finance fees. It’s so freeing.)

[Anonymous]

I was dunzo two years ago. It takes a few months to stop being in the habit of paying it every month, but you do adjust. : )

[Anonymous]

I owed over 200k. I overpaid my last payment (by under $10, I wanted to be SURE the last payment was in fact the last!))and keep the refund check in my nightstand drawer. I can’t believe it’s over, ha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from law school 18.5 years ago with $160k in student loans. Have had a very unusual career since then, interesting but without much stability or great $$ - and anyway, I still owe $42k. I remember getting to $100k, then $50k, and each time starting to feel like maybe one day - one day! - the end would be in sight.

Just checked a student loan calculator and saw that if I can put $1500/month toward these babies then I can be done for good in 2.5 years. The very thought of it is like a huge weight lifting. It's hard to even contemplate that if I can just sacrifice for the next couple of years, I can be DONE. (Knock wood a thousand times.)

So please help me stay motivated by telling me HOW AMAZING you felt when the loans were finally gone! What did you do with the extra $$ every month? How much less stress did you feel? Please tell me your stories of joy and freedom!

Too weird, OP - these are almost my exact same numbers, except mine are dental school loans, not law school. Graduated in 2001 with 160, now at 32K. My husband and I are THROWING money at the loans, and I'm actually getting ready to send an extra 5K this month. I will be in the 20's...finally...woo hoo!

Keep at it, OP - we are so close. SO CLOSE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I owed over 200k. I overpaid my last payment (by under $10, I wanted to be SURE the last payment was in fact the last!))and keep the refund check in my nightstand drawer. I can’t believe it’s over, ha!

This is a cute story!

[Anonymous]

I graduated with $100k in loans and paid them off in ten years. Slow going, some months could only pay the minimums but paid off entirely last year. Sadly, I didn’t do anything fun with the extra money- putting in savings for my down payment. But it feels amazing- both to be debt-free as well as the knowledge that I built this life 100% myself.

[Anonymous]

AMAZING!! I did what you are contemplating, op. At about 39k I started paying $1,500 a month. It was so close I could smell it. The day I paid it off I took off from work, hit the spa and met up with some friends to celebrate.

Congrats, op, you can see the finish line!!!

[Anonymous]

My DH graduated from med school with about $200,000 in loans. We sold our condo for a very nice profit and used the proceeds to pay off the debt. We were ecstatic! My SIL still has about $120,000 in med school loans and she has been out for about 6 years.

[Anonymous]

I had a Lyft driver today who is a 4th year medical student who has $240,000 in loans and he thinks it will rise to $255,000. Insane!

[Anonymous]

Listen to some Dave Ramsey podcasts. They can be very motivating. "Freeedoooommmm!!!"

[Anonymous]

Graduated law school with $175k in SL's about 11 years ago. Ask me in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH graduated from med school with about $200,000 in loans. We sold our condo for a very nice profit and used the proceeds to pay off the debt. We were ecstatic! My SIL still has about $120,000 in med school loans and she has been out for about 6 years.

That doesn’t count

[Anonymous]

I had about $125K when I finished school 11 years ago. I paid the minimum for years but I started paying it down in earnest about 4 years. I'm halfway there, got $60k left and I'm hoping to knock it out within the next 3 years, hopefully sooner if I can get a windfall or two. Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Dh and I had a combined of ~300k in loans. We paid it off two years ago but now we have a huge mortgage. Oh well