The Money Fix: "The Bill for My PhD Is Due"
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 10:03AM Hey! Beth here. This fall I'm participating in an awesome project called "The Money Fix." Basically, DailyWorth played matchmaker and set up nine readers with money experts. Each reader is blogging on DailyWorth.com about her progress. My advisee, Charlotte, posted her first blog last week, and I wanted to share it with you. I hope her story will inspire you! Take it away, Charlotte:
Hi, my name is Charlotte, and I have staggering student loan debt from getting my PhD.
2010 was a big year in our house. I turned 40, had our son, and now I've decided to tackle my finances.
I want to do everything at once, but I'm overwhelmed. At 40, I still rent an apartment, we don't have a car (thankfully we live in DC), we don't have life insurance or a college savings account—and we need to save for retirement.
But the elephant in the room is my student loan debt. It took me 13 years to get my doctorate, and the bill has come due. I love my work, but I'm not sure I can afford to stay in the not-for-profit field.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
My first step, says Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life, is to open up those stacks of student loan statements that are now stashed in boxes on my desk and probably under my bed—so I can figure out how much I owe exactly, and to whom.
She's right: First I have to face financial reality to see how big and bad this elephant really is. Then I can make other choices. (If you're interested, you can read my full story here.)
Can you relate to Charlotte's story? What financial facts are you avoiding?
daily worth, dailyworth, debt, phd loans, student loans, the money fix
Reader Comments (1)
I have a student loan that I am trying to get rid of now, $50 a month ends up being 5 years until a 3,000 loan is paid off. It is ridiculous and there really needs to be cuts to education costs. There should be a value implementation that does not allow people to get sucked in with these loan offers and then kick them to the curb while they work all day at minimum wage to live and make the loan payments. It just doesnt make sense to me.