SaverLife member Mahiyat knows firsthand what it’s like to navigate student loan debt. In this article, she shares how she paid off her student loans seven years early, and the practical strategies, motivation, and lessons that helped her along the way.
As a daughter of immigrant parents and the firstborn, navigating student loans when the time for college came proved to be quite a challenge. Because my parents hadn’t gone through the U.S. college or student loan system themselves, it was unfamiliar territory for all of us. So in 2013, when I was preparing to head off to college, I often turned to friends’ parents for advice and did research on my own to understand my options and figure out the process.
Even still, being just 18 years old, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. High school didn’t teach us anything about student loans – how to pick which interest rate or what a subsidized vs. unsubsidized loan is. During the process, I’m sure I probably picked things just to get the ordeal over with, not knowing how much this would impact me in the future.
Paying off student loans can seem like a dark cloud hanging over your head. At least, that’s how I felt during my journey. This is a reminder that it doesn’t have to feel that way! You are not alone in this, and I’m here to share some things I found helpful when repaying my student loans.
Payment schedule/targeting
The most helpful advice I found online, which drastically helped me pay off my student loans, was to make targeted payments multiple times a month rather than just once. I found out my provider allowed only eight payments a month, so I would make eight payments each month, but in smaller increments.
Before I knew this, I would pay about $250 per month, but I didn’t know where this payment was going since I had multiple student loans. By targeting the payments, however, I could decide which loan I wanted to tackle first.
Having a method helps – either the smallest loan, or maybe the loan with the highest interest rate, etc. Making more frequent payments, paired with targeted payments, helped me reduce my interest balance. I remember my interest balance was $10 per day, and over time it slowly became $0.33 per day.
Gamifying repayment
There’s no fun in student loans, but I think we have to find joy where we can in life. For me, watching my interest per day for my student loans became almost like a game; I would always check how my interest balance dropped every time I made a payment. Watching that number dwindle gave me such a rush and made me feel proud of myself, like “I did that!” Try making repayment feel like a game to help keep yourself motivated to keep at it.
Extra income
It seems like the most obvious way to help pay off student loans, but having a side hustle is also something that helped me pay off mine. I used to tutor online to make some cash, and that money strictly went towards my loans. I started “Doordashing” on the side to make some extra money, which can have its highs and lows. I can make my own schedule and do it whenever I’m free; however, I have to consider the high gas prices, extreme summer temperatures, or snowy weather.
Price tracking
I use apps for almost every store I shop at, so using them to find sales and see how prices have shifted is a general everyday practice for me. This helps me save money on everyday items like groceries, and sometimes they’ll also reward you with coupons or $ off. Money saved from these everyday expenses can go towards your student loans, too.
Finding community
Whenever I have a question, I turn to the internet, usually Reddit. I give credit to the online student loan community for helping me get this far in my debt repayment journey because I learned so much helpful information from these forums. Relying on other people’s stories and methods made me feel less alone, and I also helped pick up on what works in my journey, along with what not to do.
Another place I turn to is SaverLife and its articles – it helps to read other people’s stories and methods to learn different perspectives. If you’re struggling or need help, I recommend going online because there is community everywhere, and it helps you feel less alone.
Using the methods above, I was able to pay off my student loans seven years earlier than the expected payoff date! What started off as a daunting task became rewarding and almost fun along the way. Taking some small steps will help you in the long run. I learned a lot throughout this journey, and now I’m teaching my friends about these methods too, so we can all be debt-free.
Read more about Mahiyat’s journey in her member story.
