Hello UI Financial followers. It’s time for part 4 for our series. I posted an open question in the UI advanced forum to see what financial woes are weighing most heavily on our heads as a people. Surprisingly enough the one question that seemed to be on everybody’s lips were the financial burden of STUDENT LOANS. Now… I myself was a scholarship athlete and did not need student loans until m post graduate work which made them much more manageable. However there are many of you out there who were not blessed with athletic talent to perform on the collegiate level and were unable to obtain full academic funding based on your test taking abilities so you had to take control and obtain student loans. They are great for the time being. While you learn and network your way into adult life the stress of funding such an event is lifted off your shoulders… Until that student loan, becomes student debt. Here is where we need to begin this conversation. We are living the academic dream at first thinking that school is all about the knowledge that we gain and utilize but we are brought back to earth when we see that the “almighty dollar” reigns supreme as it tends to do in our live and lets us know that life is real.  With no job experience and a degree that comes a dime a dozen the debt and the opportunity to pay it off becomes more than we can handle. It causes great tress and causes doubt in the process of obtaining the education to you at one point felt you deserved. It is manageable if handled properly. I have paid off my student debt as well as helped many others in paying of not only graduate debt but post graduate debt as well.

The first thing to eliminating any problem is to identify the situation. Currently you are in debt due to your academic endeavors. The problems that it creates are lower credit scores and turbulent credit history. This then affects your ability to find a job and to extend other lines of credit like purchasing a home and even starting a business. Even whether or not you will have to pay a deposit on your cell phone before purchasing it is also tied in with your credit score. Worst case scenario you are feeling the full effects of this and need to change it. Let’s start from there. 1 thing that you need to know is creditors and other credit sources see student debt as a liability… However they also see it as a necessary liability. This means that they realize much like medical bills that most people are going to have student loans. Like taxes and death student loans are just one of those things you cannot avoid in today’s job market. Whether they judge you on them or not is determined by if you are actively paying them off. My wife has over 300k in student loan debt however her credit is impeccable due to the payment plan that she has set up. If they can see you effort, you will be forgiven. Maybe not on paper… But at bare minimum in the eyes of actual people who are checking your references and numbers you will be. The moral is… ESTABLISH A PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT. It will get you much further than not paying at all.

If you are a doctor or an attorney this is you fate for the next 10-20+ years. You don’t have to pay it back all at once and honestly never in your life time. As long as there is not debtor’s prison in America you will be fine. However if you are not an attorney or doctor and have a very regular occupation read carefully because you are in an entirely different boat. Your debt matters and is not looked at as cavalier as the debt amassed by a person with a post graduate degree.  A payment plan will not be all that effective for you unfortunately… You WILL need to pay it off. The reason being is that since the dollar amount is not extreme and is manageable then you should be able to well… Manage it.

The first thing you have to ask yourself is “Have I even attempted to pay off the debt.” Many times we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of living life and worrying about our student debt yet we have not actually thought about if you can actively pay it off. More times than not you DO have the ability to do so. That extra100 bucks you have left over at the end of the month can go to your student debt. Yes it seems like that’s all you have, but picture this. Because of your credit and your financial history (Which are all things that an HR person looks at when hiring) you will not be able to get a job that leaves you with a surplus of funds at months end. Think about it… How much is that 100.00 costing you? So what if your have to buy the well drink instead of the Ciroc… It will help you more than you know.

Another question that must be asked is “Does my job commiserate with my degree?” This is a big one for many of us. Yes we all had dreams of majoring in Black Studies… Women’s Studies… Norse Mythology… ETC, thinking that we would get our degrees, change the world and continue to live as if money and the laws of our government did not apply. Face it… Unless you become a professor (and a world renowned one at that) in any field of study such as these, THERE IS NO JOB OUT THERE THAT WILL PAY YOU ENOUGH TO PAY BACK YOUR LOANS. I know I will get flack for that, but it is a cold piece of truth that must be told.  The only way these pay is by writing books and lectureship done for the people who are taking the same classes you did. Long story short… Find something that will provide the opportunity to pay it pack. After the first round of bills that were not assisted by grant, or loan money we soon realized the ugly truth. In order to live we would need to find employment or create a business that would provide us the life that we were accustomed to. The same goes for paying off your student loans. If you are not working at a job that will give you the financial freedom to pay off your loans then why are you there? It like getting on a bus at 8:30 A.M. when you have to be there for 9:00 A.M. and you know the trip takes an hour. You do what you have to do to make that 8 o’clock bus or earlier. No it is not as comfortable as working at a 9-5 dead end job and complaining about it. However you have to ask yourself… “Am I really committed to killing this debt? Or is it more comfortable to complain and not do what NEEDS to be done?”

So you owe… And you simply don’t have the money to pay it back, but your job skills do not permit you to get a better job. LOOK FO PROGRAMS THAT WILL HELP YOU. There are many programs that will flat-out forgive the debt as well as many employers who will pay it off for you in exchange for tenure with the organization. A few examples of this are the President’s student loan forgiveness program, calling The Student Aid Center at (855) 801-6737. And also the Stafford loan forgiveness program. I know that you are saying “I didn’t qualify for a Stafford loan nor did I qualify for any type of forgiveness.” Okay… That’s fine too. This is my favorite one to tell people about. There is a very special program which incorporates personal responsibility and is a great way to pay back your debt.  For the go getter and person who wants to knock it out without mercy, I give you www.SponsorChange.org This website is a national program dedicated to not only providing quality work to businesses that need it but will also PAY you. That’s right PAY YOU for your work. They will pay an upwards of $12 to $20 per hour that you work for them. However you don’t see any money. For the work you do for their organization they will pay your check towards your student loan debt. In some cases they will match your hourly donation to help you pay off the loan depending on what they hire you for. You already volunteer in the community… Why not volunteer your time to pay off your OWN debt? There are many organizations like this and they are all looking for you to aid them.

Follow these simple guidelines and you will be student loan debt free in the near future. It does not take much. Incorporate the savings tips from the 2^nd installment with this and you will be even closer to clearing your college debt. I know that everyone’s situation is different, and I know that we all have our beliefs on the way things SHOULD be. However make no mistake that the way things ARE tells us we need to pay it back. Even from a moral stand point, you must consider the legacy you leave to the children of this earth. Are we to be hypocrites and tell the youth to be responsible adults…? Yet give them the example of not living the best possible existence because mom and dad can’t pay back what they owe? Dad says to his daughter to be strong and independent… Yet his education was the result of him “leaning” on the bank to provide is education to never pay it back…. Or the mom who tells her son not to be a deadbeat dad and pay his child support, yet laughs when the bills come saying “They ain’t getting a dime from me.” Kids pick up on these things and they translate into their lives. The worst thing you can do is be a hypocrite in a child’s eyes because he or she will never respect anything you say or do once you’ve been exposed. So please… Handle your debts; pay off your loans… And life the life you went to school for in the first place. Remember once again everyone… “Make money… Not excuses.”