my debt situation

Avatar for aerandel
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
my debt situation
11
Thu, 08-25-2005 - 11:36pm
Hi everyone, I am lurker on this board and read just about every message that is posted, however I think I've only posted once or twice here. I wanted to actually give a formal hello and let you all in on my debt situation. First of all, I am 22, a recent college graduate and have a bf of six years (fiance if we could get our finances in order). Right now I am 45K in debt from student loans, 25 is federal loans which I consolidated, and the rest is private loans that I intend to consolidate through CFS. I have been unable to find a job in my field (elementary education) so I am still working my crappy job that got me through college (12k a year) and this year I will also be subbing in local districts. I am also attending graduate school and although I have a good chunk of the money I need for my first semester tuition I still do owe them 1300 dollars on top of what I have saved just for this first semester. School bills aside, I have two credit cards, one is my target card and it is at 21% but I only owe 247 dollars on it. My other card is a lower interst visa card, about 9% interest. My current balance is 4200 dollars. It's been sitting in the 3400 range until recently when my bf's new job in real estate caused us the need to buy him a laptop. I also have a car loan and owe 2300 on that. That's just me...then there is of course my dbf's bills. I am doing ok...make all the payments on time even if it's only the minimum. My poor bf however is drowning. He owes 35K in student loan debt, which equals 310 dollars a month in payments (not even counting the money I will be paying out soon for student loans) plus a car loan, credit card, debt to dell computer company, cell phone, etc. Overall the situation is really awful and I feel like my life is screwed over without even having started. WE are 80K in debt just from student loans, not counting all the other debts. We are only 22. He just got set up in a real estate job so we are praying that he gets some sales just to get caught up on his bills...he is drowning...everything is late and it's a question of paying whichever one is the latest when he does get some money. I keep trying to help but I can only do so much and still protect my credit by keeping my head above water. Any advice would be appreciated. I just don't know how we will ever get out of debt or ever get a home, have kids, etc when we are so in debt at such a young age. They say school debt is good debt but as an elementary school teacher I will only make 34K a year....was it worth it to be 45K in debt plus graduate school costs...? AGh! 600 a month in student loan payments between the two of us seems like so much. And they will be around until we are like 55...how will we ever afford to have a normal life or a home?

                          

             

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 2:55am
Hi, thanks for saying hello. BTW, what is your name? Aerandel? Everyone here is supportive, nonjudgemental, and the board is cathartic. Read somewhere that by the time the college student is a senior, he/she has about $5000+ in cc debt, and that 90% of senior yr students have a cc, so you are not alone. l) Visit snowflake board, (see Becky CL site). Round up your payments. Even by a few $$$. This is what is saving us a little bit. Example: Car Payment: $353.00. I paid $355.00. 2) Food. Our biggest expense. Since I am on restricted diet now, I take yogurt, jello, soup to work, and DH takes sandwich/salad stuff/fruit. 3) Have bf consolidate student loans. Can he get a PT gig that will help tide him over until his RE gets going? 4) Pay off your cc's if you can. Listen to Danni, Heather, et al. If you pay off one, roll over that monthly payment to the next one. 5) GAS prices. DH told me his boss never gets gas at a freeway exit, as it is too expensive. 6)Girlfriend, you can do better than $12K/yr!! Can you tutor kids on the side? Teach during the summer months? My SIL is looking into math tutor for the one kid who is struggling. Anyway----I am far from perfect. I backslide. I fail. But I know that if I keep coming back here, I can learn, hopefully, and celebrate small victories.You can too. With hugs, Whiz.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 7:38am

Is working in a program that would discharge some of the student loans an option? I know I've heard of programs where you work in a less desirable school district in return for some student loan pay-off. I don't know anything about that process (radio/television undergrad) but you might look into it.

One advantage of being young is you might find it easier to move/find a cheaper cost of living and area with more schools now than you will later on as well.

Taleyna

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 1:07pm

I'm a teacher too, so I thought I'd give you some ideas.

Where we are, school doesn't start until labor day. So if your schools haven't started yet, I guarantee that some of them are scrambling to find last minute teachers (even if they have started they may have open positions that subs are filling for now). People often sign their contracts for the next year to keep their options open, but then they decide to move or have a kid or something. Call the local districts every day and tell them to please call you if they have any last minute openings and that you will be ready to interview and take a job at any time. I would even go to the district offices and ask to speak to the person in charge of elementary school hiring in person. Give him or her your resume in person and ask him or her to please call you if there are any openings. This will make the chances much greater that you, and not somebody else who submitted a resume, will get the call if there is an opening.

Also, are you long-term subbing or just day to day subbing? Try to get a long-term sub position if you can. Teachers are always taking maternity leave. That way you'll be at the same school for several weeks and they'll get to know you. We have hired several people who were successful long-term subs (why hire an unknown person if you already know your long-term sub will do a good job?).

Or, look for a job as a secretary at an elementary school. We hired a teacher who was a secretary first. That will probably pay in the low to high $20k's and give you benefits and a foot in the door with the district. Are you certified to teach up to 8th grade? There might be more middle school openings than elementary right now, so you could start out in middle school and then transfer to an elementary school (in my district you have to wait 3 years to transfer, but with special permission can transfer after 1 year, which is what I did -- went from a low-income, poorly-run middle school to your average high school).

I don't know if this helps, but if you pay $100 a month on your 9% credit card, you'll get it paid off in 4 1/4 years. If you can manage $200 a month (ouch, I know), you'll get it paid off in less than 2 years! I would at least make it a goal to pay $75 a month (pay it off in a little over 6 years). $50 a month will take over ten years. So the point is, the more you pay now, the less interest will accrue, and the faster you'll get it paid off. Of course, you can just pay the minimum for a few months while you're targeting the high interest card and looking for a teaching position, but it's good to know how much you have to pay to get it paid off by a certain date.

Is your current $12k/year job something you can do at night, on weekends, over Christmas, or during the summer? If not, you can find some other part time work when school's out. Summer school will usually pay an additional $2k or so, and some after school activities will pay a stipend ($1k or more to be a coach -- you can coach at a middle or high school if there's nothing like that at the elementary level).

Why are you getting a masters? Carefully compare how much more money you would make with a masters (maybe $1k to $3k more a year) with how much it will cost you to get the masters (take time, not just money, into the equation). Is it worth it? Maybe you should just focus on getting a teaching position.

If I had my masters, I would make $1700 more a year, which is less than 5% more. I did the math and figured out that spending a year getting my masters would cost my tuition and also cost me the money I could have earned without a masters. So I wouldn't have earned $32,000 that first year and would be in debt for the tuition. An extra 5% a year isn't worth it for a long time. Instead, I oversee the school newspaper, which actually takes very little extra time (since I now teach a newspaper class instead of an English class that period) and which pays $1500 more a year.

Maybe you could do Teach for America for two years (it will be tough, but maybe it's better than no teaching job). You would receive a forebearance on your loans during the two years you would be teaching through them, and then they would give you $4725 each year ($9450 total) towards paying your existing or future student loans.

Has your boyfriend been hired by a local real estate firm? That way he would get some leads with walk-ins. I know that is a really tough business to get into. He might need to consider doing something that isn't commission based while you two get on your feet. It is a good idea to have some money saved up before entering a commission based business where it might take a while to start making money. Or maybe he can get a job at night and on weekends and do both?

Don't despair! Your situation is very common, so don't think it's something you did wrong. You and your boyfriend have each other and good heads on your shoulders. I know you will chip away at it little by little.

Edited 8/26/2005 1:07 pm ET ET by phoenixgirl12




Edited 8/26/2005 1:08 pm ET ET by phoenixgirl12
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 1:15pm
P.S. I know you might want to remain anonymous, but if you tell me the general area where you live, I will try to see if I can find any job listings. Have you checked the website for your state's department of education? Maybe if you broaden your search radius (look up to 45 min or an hour away) more will come up.
Avatar for aerandel
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 1:51pm
Hi! I live in NE PA, an area that is virtually dead to new growth. My bf is currently working nights at another job as well as working the RE office in the mornings. We are both working out butts off to bring in any extra money we can. I am a day to day sub, hoping for any long term positions, as well as working at my waitressing job, I also did some tutoring over the summer but the student doesn't want to continue during school (well his mom doesn't want him to, he will be in classroom plus through the school so that counts me out) and I work for a family member to help with a home business for extra cash. Any info anyone has about teaching jobs would be great! I am trying really hard to find something in my area becasue I don't want to make dbf feel like he needs to relocate when he just got this RE job. (We live together, although with my parents) I am pursuing graduate school because I am interested in psychology or possibly school counseling and I want to see where I can go with those...I'm still iffy on what exactly I want to pursue but I had a lot of ppl pusing me to go to school since I was accepted into psych and also I got some financial help from grandma (although I've had to use some of th emoney she gave me for tuition just to pay the bills, so now I still need 1300 more!) I felt pressured to go. I decided to take two classes first semester and one the second semester and that will allow me a year to decide on what program I want or if I want to stop the program altogether and wait a few years. It just seems like I could be accomplishing something towards furthering my education while I'm waiting to get a full time teaching position. Who knows. Thanks for the help!

                          

             

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 2:57pm

You might also look into research assistantships or teaching assistantships in those fields. I did my MA and now I'm working on my Ph.D. I have a 5,000 student loan and DH has more (13,000) for the experience. We could have done it with no loans but we bought a house at the end. My assistantship covered tuition plus paid me a stipend and then we lived on campus.

Taleyna

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 3:12pm

OK, for some reason I can't figure out how to link websites (maybe I have to be a paying member or something?); it keeps adding all this stuff to it. If you go to the PA department of education website, click on teaching on the top and then job vacancies on the side, there is a service called tips (teaching in pennsylvania schools) that you can sign up for. You have to register to look at the openings, so I didn't go that far.

It's great (well, maybe not for you, but for your checkbook) that you are living at home right now. That makes your expenses much less, so a lot more of your paycheck can go toward debt without having to worry about next month's rent.

If psychology is what you want to do, then go for it. But if all you really want to do is teach elementary school and you're just in grad school because you got in and your grandma is helping you, then maybe you're sort of getting off track. I don't know you at all, but you made it sound like you were going for other people, not necessarily yourself.

I also found a website called (add the http and www to the front, I'm hoping I can type the link without it changing it this way): pa-educator.net but the closest to your area listed were Schuykill and Lehigh counties . . . those are probably really far away, right?

Anyway, there have to be some openings in your area. A lot of the baby-boomers are retiring, and people move and stop working to have children. The problem is just getting the district to call you when they have a zillion applicants. To do that you need to be persistent. I never once got an interview through sending in a resume. Basically, other than one interview that I got because I knew the pricipal, all the other ones were opened up to me because I asked the human resources person that day if there were openings, and then she'd say, "Oh, I have an opening at this school you can interview for." She was never ever going to call me on her own. They hire whichever people magically make it to the top of their pile by having good resumes or interviews at job fairs, and whichever people keep bugging them for interviews.

Another opening:

kindergarden teacher, Elk Lake School District in Susquehanna County (contact Dr. Bush today) elklakeschool.org The listing asks teachers interested in transfering to send a letter of intent by today, but if somebody is transfering, that means a position is open where that teacher came from. So there's an opening there somewhere.

OK, I am not too impressed with the PA school websites. Here in VA every district has the same address (county.k12.va.us) and is required to post their job openings, even though sometimes they cheat and just say, "elementary school teachers" instead of specific openings. I had to search everywhere to find the district websites, and then very few of them even listed any openings. But that doesn't mean they don't have them!

Avatar for aerandel
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 4:14pm
So I'm not the only one that noticed that pA school websites are crummy in the job department. Everyone keeps telling me to check websites for openings but only maybe one school I have found actually listed any openings. Lol! I'm soooo frustrated with the politics of getting a teaching job...it's not your credentials or resume, it's who you know, and if you don't have a connection around where I live you are SOL. :-(

                          

             

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 4:54pm

:) LOL . . . you know what's funny, in VA our state standardized tests are called the SOLs (standards of learning). Didn't anyone realize that was a commonly used acronym for something else?

It's true, a lot of people use personal connections to get jobs. My first year, I worked on a team with a guy whose mom did all the hiring for the county. He did such a bad job (graded about three things per marking period, kids totally out of control, etc.) that they hired somebody as a "tutor" and made him take over this guy's classes. But they still wouldn't fire him because of who his mom was, so he got paid until the end of the year and then "resigned"! (It was so bad that one time a kid yelled through the wall, "Miss Phoenixgirl!!! You can suck my hairy . . .!" and his room was so noisy that he didn't hear it. I had to march over there, identify the kid, and send him to the office myself.) Another teacher at my school has parents who work at the central office, and she got emergency certification to teach Spanish. Well, she failed the licensure exam . . . three times (OK, maybe the first time you weren't prepared, but you study, study, study for the next one) and had to be let go. So guess who we hired as a long-term Spanish sub for somebody on maternity leave? That's right, the idiot who couldn't pass her exam! I've heard her speaking Spanish, and I think I could do a better job even though I'm an English teacher and barely remember my Spanish.

Sorry, not helpful, I know. :) But hopefully if you sub, you'll get to know people, and then you'll be the person with the connections.

Avatar for mommyof2grlz2boys
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 9:51am
That is alot. There are some areas of our country that are in deep need for elementary education teachers have you thought about moving so you could get a full time job and work on your masters in the evenings? Or is moving not an optiion? Second since he is the one who is drowning and having alot of problems being able to pay his bills he should get a second job for the time being in the evenings or something.Turn the cell phones off unless he needs his for buisness but definatley turn yours off, pay off the target card department store cards are just to tempting. Pay cash for stuff you get at target from now on. I would be taking him to talk to a recruiter. I mean the army or even airforce would pay off most of his loans he would only have to do four years active or one weekend a month if he went to the reserves. For that matter you could join too and they would give you money for your masters called the GI bill. PLus have free housing ect I only suggest this because you are all so young and have so much debt with the right plan you could all fix this within a few years so you could eventually start a family or get a house

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