The dreaded word “loan” is probably now a daily conversation at your dinner table with fall semester quickly approaching for many incoming Freshmen. I’m here to tell you that loans is not something to dread.
Loans were the scary “monster under the bed” growing up for me. I had seen my parents struggle with debt as a kid all the way into my adulthood.
My view changed during my senior year of high school. During the college application process, I found out that I would need to pay a TON of money for college. I started to freak out and began thinking that I would have to stay in-state to save money.
My college advisor sat me down though and told me that if people are willing to have debt to get a car why should I be afraid to get into debt for my future. It really stuck with me and encouraged me to not let money be a hindering factor when comparing colleges.
When it comes to loans, I chose to pay only my loan’s interest monthly while I’m in school. I had looked into it and I’m going to save thousands of dollars doing it this way. But everyone’s different so just do your research. Remember how you were doing research on colleges to find the best pick for you? Well you’re going to do that again for loans.
It might seem scary the first time but trust me it gets easier. And with every year that you have the loan in good standing, the higher your credit score gets. Credit Karma is a free website where you can check your credit score without any penalty.
I am not trying to encourage taking out loans or suggesting them as an easy out when paying for college. But don’t be so afraid of loans that you wait until the last minute and possibly make a worse choice than if you were correctly educated and did your homework beforehand.