Student Loan Debt

[VincenzoG91]

Yeah, talk to him soon. The scary thing about student loan debt is that you can't get out of it through bankruptcy. It sounds like you will be able to take care of this debt yourself in a reasonable time period, but it's a big amount and he deserves to know before he marries you and your debt.

[vashti]

Is 80k meant to be 8k by any chance? Everyone seems to have Student Loan nowadays. With such low interest on student loan, I don't see it's going to be a huge issue to pay off for anyone with a decent job and discipline after education. 80K is a lot though. That's over 1k every month for nearly 7 years!

American education costs a lot.

[Infern0]

80K?

thats criminal.

Just tell him about it, im sure it won't be a huge issue

[Neuro]

Unfortunately, it does cost a lot of money.

He would be marrying my debt, but it is not debt that implies psychological issues... such as compulsive shopping or gambling..etc. It's education... And I am getting my Master's degree for free. Just looking for reasons to make this huge number seem less of an obstacle... but I am not having much luck. : (

[Neuro]

If it's criminal... how are you sure it won't be a huge issue? Would you get yourself into it? I know it wouldn't matter to me if I was in his shoes... but that doesn't justify anything.

[RdHrshyKss]

first off, don't be ashamed of your debt. i'm in the same boat as you, although i was pretty upfront about my finances with my bf as soon as we were thinking about moving in together. it's a horrible burden to hold on your shoulders, but unfortunately it's something that our generation has had to deal with. if you guys were to get married, your debt will become his debt, so take giga's advice and talk to him about it before he buys the ring, before he proposes, etc. get this stuff worked out first before you guys make any kind of commitments. if he loves you, it shouldn't be a big deal. and honestly, being able to pay it off in 7 years is not bad at all. i think i'm looking at 15 years for me to pay off all of mine! but that's because my undergraduate degree doesn't mean much without a masters, so my salary isn't so great. most of my salary goes towards my loans, it's really sad. but i'm looking to go back to school (and since i work for a university i can luckily get my mba for free...thank the lord almighty). as your salary and experience increase, you'll be able to pay it off quicker. who knows. maybe your bf will be willing to help you out so that you can get rid of your debt even quicker than by yourself. but the debt will be a problem when looking for a house, getting approved for a mortgage, all that stuff that comes with getting married. you definitely need to sit down and talk to him about all the circumstances before you guys make the decision to get married.

it's the USA, you have to try to beat the system . maybe have him take out the mortgage and all the important things BEFORE you get married so that it doesn't become a problem.

[IndiReloaded]

Maybe you should tell him you will marry him once the debt is paid off. You are right - this should not become HIS expense. How long do you anticipate it will take to get rid of it?

^This. Or you could arrange for a prenup that explicitly states he isn't responsible for your student debt.

I can't imagine acquiring that amount of debt for an undergrad education. Not for what the job market is like today. At least you are getting a masters. I hope its in a field that will get you a job when you are done. Engineering or something.

[Neuro]

I told him toight before he bought the ring. I had to get it off my chest before it could have been too late.

He looked at me and laughed - he told me he was aware that I have student loans, but that he doesn't care how much... even if it was a million dollars. But then he asked me and laughed again, after which he responded with "there is no amount of money that will keep me away from you" and "it's like investig five dollars, and getting a millio dollars in profit."

I am the luckiest girl.

Thaks to all of you for your time and thoughts!!

[RdHrshyKss]

I can't imagine acquiring that amount of debt for an undergrad education. Not for what the job market is like today

sucks right??? my situation was that my parents had a lot of financial problems (their own debt) and couldn't help me out with school. i didn't qualify for much financial aid (and financial aid is loans) so i had to take out private loans. i was lucky in that at the time, they had options for students without cosigners, which seems to be unavailable nowadays. i transferred from VT to Rutgers after my freshman year, which didn't help because i lost a lot of credits. i then ended up changing majors, so it took me 5 years to graduate. at $15-$20K a year for 5 years, $80K is around the right amount. not even speaking of ivy league or private schools, those would be even more.

then again, you can always try for scholarships...my fault for not applying for many, but even with some you'd have to be a crazy genius to get scholarships that really bite a hefty chunk out of your tuition expense. it's a shitty shitty system right now...tuition prices are skyrocketing because of state budgets cuts, states can no longer afford to dish out as much as they used to to higher education. but students who are graduating are having little luck finding jobs. it really sucks.

out in europe people get to go to college for "free". i put it in quotes because it's not really 100% free, people pay for it through their higher taxes, but still....students who really care about their education and want to make something out of there lives are given that option without having all this debt to look forward to after they graduate. and the fact that people can no longer really get jobs in the USA without a degree makes it even worse, tells young adults, "want a life? well if you do, you need to go and spend thousands of dollars on an education without being 100% guaranteed a job after you graduate. but it's either you take that risk of not getting a job that you need to pay off your debt, or live a guaranteed life of poverty"