The Student Loan

The student loan is the only piece of debt we have besides the mortgage on the Town House. When I was going to school I was lucky to have a combination of an academic scholarship, frugal living skills, and help from my grandmother which enabled me to get through college debt free. That's not to say things were a cake walk for me, I had to keep my grades up, live in a shitty apartment with 5 roommates, eat oatmeal and peanut butter for 3 meals per day, go to school year round, work part time jobs and walk everywhere but I did it. BV was not so lucky, he was the first person in his family to earn a degree, had no help from his family and couldn't give up his full time job. That lead him to seek his degree from a for-profit college and his work schedule meant it took him a lot longer to get the degree. Hindsight is 20/20 and now we can think ways he could have done things better but the past is the past and we are where we are. Where we are is holding a sizable student loan debt. Paying it off hasn't been the top priority until now. We have been spending our extra cash on other things such as renovations on 2 houses, school tuition and a big expensive fruitless project that came to nothing. Now that the end is in sight for my masters degree and we are making our final tuition payments, Paying off the debt makes a lot of sense, especially since it is a higher interest rate than our mortgage.  I have come up with a plan that will enable us to pay for the renovations and pay down the student loan at the same time. Hopefully this begins January 2015.