A Dream of Success-- a Nightmare to pay back.

Submitted by msdnic on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 23:16

I entered into school with a lot of scholarships. I had a dream of obtaining a PhD. I finished that in Aug of 08 but I had over $75,000 in student loan debt. I am in the US Air Force on a very fixed income instead of making a large salary somewhere else. I don't regret my decision to join the Air Force, but I do regret people telling me that my education was an investment that I could afford.

While in college, I worked 2 full-time jobs, ran up credit cards, and used student loans to pay for school and get by. My parents couldn't contribute to my education, so it was up to me. I tried to be as frugal as possible but at a school that cost upwards of $50,000 a year, there was not much more to do.

Now, I am struggling to pay my monthly payments, which amount to a large portion of my salary. Each month poses new challenges as I am deployed without much recourse. Does anyone know of any possible ways to make things a little easier?