Avoid Student Loans If You Can

As a young professional with a pretty hefty amount of student loan debt, I can say, I would pause to rethink financing my college education with student loans if I had the opportunity to do it over. Read Michelle Singletary’s latest Washington Post column about the subject: Study Up on College Loans Before Learning About Debt the Hard Way. Getting ahead financially in your twenties is more difficult with the burden of student loan debt. Yes, I am aware that student loan debt is “good debt” but I am of the same thought as Personal Finance Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary…debt is debt and the less of it you have the better.

For this reason, I have started looking on the Internet for ways to pay for graduate school (without) student loans, so I wont have to add to my loans while pursuing a graduate degree. Here is an article from U.S. News & World Report on Paying for Grad School.

I would encourage any student attending undergraduate or graduate school to do their best to finance their education without the student loans. If student loan debt cannot be avoided, live like a student a little longer until you make some headway in paying off those student loans.