Undergrad + grad balance doesn’t look like a zip code anymore.

This isn't a full celebration post but it's finally starting to feel real.

Years of just paying the absurd interest only due to rates from starting school during the bush admin (all undergrad locked at 6.8%). Unsubsidized because of how the requirements are set up. Finished with a useless degree but got a decent job I liked but didn't pay enough.

Went back to school, more debt. finished school and got a new job.

Paying off any of the individual loans didn't really move the needle for me since I've always been staring at the total balance. I remember calculating how much interest was accruing hourly and just staring at my ceiling. It messes with you psychologically.

I'm an accountant so interest and amortization weren't new concepts but I like visuals. What helped was building a spreadsheet with the full amortization. I had a field for "extra payment" and would play around with it. Sometimes things like $10 extra month don't feel like they matter, but they do and it was always comforting to see the impact it would have on the later months.

Seeing the balance go under 10k for the first time has me hyped up. I'm actually going to do this. LFG.