This is a guest post from Staci Fagal who is a reader of my blog. Staci made an insightful comment to a previous post on graduating college debt free. I much enjoyed her comment that I asked her to write a post to share her story to the rest of the Good Financial Cents community. If you get a chance, be sure to check out her blog No, I Wasn’t Sleeping.
Recently I ran into a former student who was at the market with her mom. We were trying to do the two minute catch-up, when her mom mentioned that she had recently gotten her SAT scores back and she was likely going to be a National Merit Scholar. The girl got a bit embarrassed by mom bragging and tried to brush it off. That is when I stopped her to say, “Graduating debt free can be life changing.”
You see, I married a National Merit Scholar, and between generous parents, multiple scholarships and working, we both graduated from college debt free. Our lives have been different from day one.
Choose a job for the fun of it
Weeks before graduation my husband was offered a job at a small mission organization. While the pay was meager, he was single and had not debt so he took the job to get experience.
Choose a job based on location
I was able to get take a job in an area where I had friends, even though it wasn’t a high paying job. I didn’t have debt, so I could make my choice based on friends instead of money.
Choose a job based on your belief in the mission
But it turns out my husband-to-be missed me, so he proposed, we got married and I moved. He kept his job, meager salary and all, because he believed in the mission of his company and felt like he was making a difference there. I found new work, and we discovered the joys of a two income family.
Saving money for down payments
Since we didn’t have to worry about student loans that first year out of college, we were both able to put major chunks of money aside for a wedding, honeymoon, and down payment on a house. That large down payment helped us get a great mortgage for our house. We also chose to live in a smaller town with cheaper housing, because we didn’t need to go to a big city to make big money.
Be out of debt faster
The great mortgage, big down payment and double income meant that we were able to pay off our house within five years. Just in time for a baby!
Live on less
Now, I am able to stay at home with three kids while my husband walks to work to a job that he loves. We have a fully funded emergency fund, and max out our Roth IRA every year. No school loan payments, no house payment, no car payments.
It’s amazing the choices you are able to make when the decisions are not ruled by interest rates or payment schedules.
Staci Fagal is just trying to keep up with her family. Staci writes for No I Wasnt Sleeping, where it’s about more than just money.
by TangoPango
Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I couldn’t agree more. My dad’s university (one of those presitgious types) pays for the in-state tuition of all their professor’s students. My parents were able to cover my room and board without any problems. My fiance’s parents have done well for themselves in life, and had a fund set up for her. We both graduate debt free. It allowed me to immediatly replace my aging car, which I paid off in less than a year. My cash flow is much higher than that of my friends because of this blessing.
But don’t think that student loans aren’t a good investment either readers. I think 90% of our population would benefit from a college degree, just go to an in-state school and finish in 4-years.
I am currently at a job based on location. I lived at home for a year, had no debt, and decided to move to another city where I had some friends at. Pay isn’t great but fine for now that I am younger and having fun.
Thanks Jeff for the opportunity to share our story. I blogged about how to graduate debt free on noiwasntsleeping.blogspot.com. You should check it out.
staci’s last blog post..How to Graduate Debt Free Part 1: Getting the Money
I just graduated last year and am happy to say it was debt-free. I do find myself a little ahead of some of my peers in the financial department. I’m buying a new car for the first time in the next month. I’m living with the parents still, not just because it’s financially wise, but because everyone (including them) said, “mooch off your parents for as long as they’ll let you”.
I do also think good sense factors into it a lot. I have a friend that as soon as he paid off the debt for the short program of college courses he’d taken, he immediately transferred that allotted money to his discretionary fund. We can’t make him see that WHEN his car breaks down, he’ll really wish he hadn’t spent $XX a month on video game systems and bigger televisions.
Semper Frugalis is my family’s motto. We don’t use it to buy the cheapest stuff, but make sure we go in with as much knowledge about the decision we’re making as possible.
Michael the Dumb Tech Geek’s last blog post..Video Wednesday: Simon’s Cat ‘TV Dinner’
I actually just wrote an article about an alternate approach to funding your child’s education a few days ago. The premise is to explain an education as a good debt, make your child decide if they really want to go to school, make them apply and pay for the loan, and then repay them at a later date (but don’t tell them that is the plan). Facing the discomfort of debt can be a very valuable life lesson. It might prevent your child from getting out of school debt free and developing unhealthy spending habits that will end in bad consumer debt. This is an option that I plan to investigate for my children, luckily I have 18 years to do so.
or move to west europe. tuition there is about 1,000 euro or pounds a year.