Oklahoma Nesties
Kaylee & Cole 06.14.08
8/6/11 First 5k! OG&E Expo Run 34:47
9/3/11 Brookhaven Run 5k 34:18
9/17/11 Healthy Sooners Fun Run 5k 33:38
10/15/11 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 33:31
10/29/11 Monster Dash 5k 32:06 PR!
11/11/11 Veteran's Day Run 11k in Dallas 1:13:15 Instant PR!
1/28/12 Texas Half Marathon 2:38:03 Instant PR!
3/25/12 Earlywine Dash
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Clicky Poll: Student Loan Debt
[poll]
Kaylee & Cole 06.14.08
8/6/11 First 5k! OG&E Expo Run 34:47
9/3/11 Brookhaven Run 5k 34:18
9/17/11 Healthy Sooners Fun Run 5k 33:38
10/15/11 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 33:31
10/29/11 Monster Dash 5k 32:06 PR!
11/11/11 Veteran's Day Run 11k in Dallas 1:13:15 Instant PR!
1/28/12 Texas Half Marathon 2:38:03 Instant PR!
3/25/12 Earlywine Dash
Re: Clicky Poll: Student Loan Debt
If I wasn't so lazy, I'd do a "how much" student loan debt poll with ranges since it looks like the majority of us have some.
Kevin luckily doesn't have any from either his bachelors or masters degrees. I have a little, since tuition and fees increased SO MUCH during my time in college and scholarships did not.
We both do. H's will be paid off next year; mine will take longer than that [maybe 2-3 more years].
Kaylee & Cole 06.14.08
8/6/11 First 5k! OG&E Expo Run 34:47
9/3/11 Brookhaven Run 5k 34:18
9/17/11 Healthy Sooners Fun Run 5k 33:38
10/15/11 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 33:31
10/29/11 Monster Dash 5k 32:06 PR!
11/11/11 Veteran's Day Run 11k in Dallas 1:13:15 Instant PR!
1/28/12 Texas Half Marathon 2:38:03 Instant PR!
3/25/12 Earlywine Dash
I have a measley $4k left from my masters degree that is accumulating at a fantastic interest rate of less than 1% so I will probably never make an effort to pay them off.
DH has a small amount from law school (I am actually pretty proud of how little we owe) that is accumulating at....hold your breath....9% interest. Isn't that just fantastic?
That does stink. Mine are at 6.8% and I hate seeing the interest tacked on. CCs are slightly higher though, so they get my extra $$ first.
It just seems to me like the rates should depend on where you are in your studies...it doesn't make any sense to me why "higher" education - law school, PA school, etc etc have such high rates of interest. My master's degree is what I have outstanding, why would my rate be less than 1% but DH's rate for law school is 9%? That doesn't exactly encourage people to seek higher education.
At one time I was convinced it was tied to income levels which really had me red in the face but DH's BFF's rate is really high as well and his income level was 0. Although...now that I think about it...he is a trust fund baby...huh...maybe it is income specific....
I think if you have federal loans, the interest rates is set. It does flucuate from year to year and was really low in the early 2000s. I didn't take mine out until 2008-2009.
Is his law school loan private? Those tend to have higher rates.
I have federal loans, one subsidized, one not. My rates are very low, but they change every year (I never consolidated to lock in a rate).
I would probably find a way to refinance a 9% rate on law school loans (which I assume are hefty)
I think I know what you're talking about, but this is the TSEIP (Teacher Shortage Employment Incentive Program). You have to fill out an initial form before you graduate and you cannot be going the alternative certification route, so I don't think you'd be able to do it
Here's what it basically says (http://www.okhighered.org/tseip/):
"Successful candidates will be reimbursed eligible student loan expenses (a set amount, which may vary yearly) or an equivalent cash benefit upon fulfillment of the following requirements: a) complete an approved professional teacher education program from an Oklahoma-accredited teacher education unit (must include a student teaching requirement); b) hold a valid certificate to teach math or science at the secondary level; and c) teach for five (5) consecutive years in Oklahoma's secondary public schools. Teachers with alternative or emergency certificates do not qualify for this program.
Kaylee & Cole 06.14.08
8/6/11 First 5k! OG&E Expo Run 34:47
9/3/11 Brookhaven Run 5k 34:18
9/17/11 Healthy Sooners Fun Run 5k 33:38
10/15/11 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 33:31
10/29/11 Monster Dash 5k 32:06 PR!
11/11/11 Veteran's Day Run 11k in Dallas 1:13:15 Instant PR!
1/28/12 Texas Half Marathon 2:38:03 Instant PR!
3/25/12 Earlywine Dash
I'm lucky enough not to have any, but DH MORE than makes up for my lack of loans. Two private universities = around $60k (with the last half of that at 6.8% interest that can't be consolidated at a lower rate when George W. Bush and Congress set the federal student loan rates that high to discourage borrowing more than needed.)
That said, without those student loans, DH would likely still be working in the factory he worked at in college making $25k/year. So, they are paying off, but it makes us want to barf to essentially be paying an additional mortgage sized payment worth of student loans every month for the next 8 years.
I got in on that great program too. WEEEEE.
UGH.
Yep. I have them starting with my Masters and continuing on through PhD. It is not a horrid amount but it still grieves my heart to think about it. I still have a few years remaining so they are on hold for now.
Thankfully DH does not as his undergraduate and graduate is paid through the military.
These are federal loans - they are through Sallie Mae. Actually, I should probably ask more questions of him about this, huh?
As far as refinancing, this is going to sound dumb, but how would we go about refinancing student loans? I try to avoid all conversations about this because it MAKES ME SO MAD. I won't get into it because I think you all know the story!!!
I'm not sure how, but I do know that I bought my land on a "consumer loan" which I think means they consider it unsecured (even though it's real property, but whatever) and the rate on that is 6.5% so even taking out a consumer loan to pay them off sounds like a good idea.
Well, I asked a question on MM and the first response I received was not at all helpful, as usual:
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/61335253.aspx
Hopefully someone else will respond with some good ideas.
Maybe someone else will ask me to post my budget and then they will tell me to get rid of my wireless interest and cable lol.
Duh. If you cut daily comforts out of your life you won't mind throwing money away on interest because you'll be too busy feeling sorry for yourself about not having cable or Internet. Don't forget to cut your cell phone plan too. At least that way you won't be able to check your bank/student loan accounts to see the balances and get pissed off about he interest rate! Voila!
My parents paid for all of my schooling (but I didn't graduate) and H's parents paid for most of his. We had small loan (under $5k) we paid off a couple of years ago.
We really want to provide our children with the same luxury we were given.
Also, I should definitely cut down on my grocery bill by eating hamburger helper and buying fattier cuts of meat. Then, of course, I will have a weight problem but I will be able to afford Jenny Craig after I pay off these loans and hook up my internet again!
When we consolidated DH's (non 6.8%) loans, we just called Direct Loans and they walked us through it:
http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/
DH and I both only have Stafford fed loans. I consolidated when I graduated undergrad and through on-time payments, automatic payments, etc. got down to a super low interest rate very quickly. DH's are all from his graduate school and are at the standard 6.8%. I think I accidentally typed 6.5 earlier. I just got lucky that I got out in 2007 when that was still possible. I doubt we can do anything to get DH a lower interest rate in 2011.
Thanks 5th!
Oh! Now one girl is telling me she lived in a basement for two years to quickly pay off her loans. LOL. I WILL NOT be living in a basement to pay off my husband's student loans - no thank you! Just want a lower rate so that when HE makes a payment on HIS loans he can be paying more toward principle and less toward interest.
I guess DH and I should not be looking to buy a house, but perhaps should ask his parents if we can come live with them for two years? I'm sure they won't mind our rascally dog and newborn tagging along.
YOU SHOULD NOT BE BRINGING A CHILD INTO A HOUSEHOLD WITH DEBT AT 6.8%. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
This has gotten kind of fun
To each his own I guess but...um, no.
I did 4 years of undergrad on out-of-state tuition. Oh boy did I have loans! I was able to pay them off very quickly though after graduating grad school, mainly due to a nice starting bonus I received. Yes, we could have probably invested that money and gotten a higher rate of return, but I just wanted to be done with them. I borrowed up to the max federal limit each year and it still wasn't enough for tuition (not to mention living expenses), so my mom also took out PLUS loans in her name. Now I'm repaying her, though the loans are still in her name.
H hasn't had a cent of loan debt in his life. He was in-state in one of the states that has a program that paid his tuition, had some scholarship money for living expenses, and his parents had saved for college eduction in case he needed anything over that. We were both fortunate enough to earn our MS degrees in science programs that basically paid us to be there, so no grad school debt.