I Paid Off Student Loans But Support Relief for Those Who Can't
Despite student debt forgiveness, aggressive repayment of student loans wasn’t a waste.
Don’t hate.
Photographer: Paul Morigi/Getty Images North America
In December 2019, my husband submitted his final student loan payment. From the moment we got married and started attacking those student loans as a team, it took us 18 months to pay off $51,234.51. Of that debt, $34,134.51 were federal loans and $17,100 were private. There is not one part of me that begrudges the millions of Americans who are on the precipice of receiving $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan relief.
From the outside, it appears as if my husband and I “pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps” to pay off that debt and heck, if we did it, then all student loan borrowers should have to as well. But that’s simply not a practical, kind, empathetic or, frankly, a reasonable response.