Raine’s $48k Debt

I can only be so prepared

I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in Writing and a minor in Creative Writing. Despite paying a little out of pocket each quarter and having two scholarships, I am almost $50,000 in the hole. I just filed my loan paperwork this week and have already taken the steps to consolidate all my loans, meaning that if I can pay off my debt in 10 years I’ll (still) pay almost $40k in interest.

Before I went to college, my mom passed away and left me with $125k in life insurance money to put towards my education. To this day, I think that she planned to end her 10-year battle with cancer before I finished high school so that I would have the ability to attend a private college. I’ve spent almost all of that money on school over the past four years, but plan on putting half of the remaining $22k towards a loan payment before it defers in November. That being said, I knew going into SCAD that I would be faced with debt after graduation (a reality I don’t think a lot of people face until they file their exit loan paperwork).

Thankfully, I found a position in my field several months before graduation (I’m a social media and advertising manager for a small gaming company, working remotely 30 hours a week). While my job isn’t as glamorous or well-paid as some of the positions my fellow grads landed (i.e. IBM, SapientNitro, etc.), at the very least I don’t feel the ticking time bomb of my loan deferment.

My advice to anyone who’s graduating is to find a job even if it’s not exactly what you were looking for. As cheesy as it sounds, there’s a learning opportunity in any position. And I gotta say, it sure is reassuring to know I have six months to save money rather than six months to find a job. You can only be SO prepared to face post-college debt, but try to do it head on.