The last steps….the ultimate goal is to finish post secondary school without any debt. No small feat. A huge achievement if you can do it.

The annual loan amounts have a way of creeping up in total amount owing and this can mean some fairly hefty monthly loan payments. A few thousand this year and a few thousand next year and so on can quickly tally $20,000. Many loan repayment terms are over an extended period of time and often with no payments required for the 1st 6 months. It sounds good but this converts means interest is adding up over a longer period of time on a larger amount of money (because it’s being repaid more slowly). The loans take ages to repay and you’ve paid a scary amount of interest. A regular $20,000 loan is repaid over 5 years with monthly payments of approximately $400 per month.

Do you want to pay $400 a month or even $250 a month to your student loan at the same time you are trying to find your first career job, buying work clothes and beginning to lead a new lifestyle? All of a sudden, the student life doesn’t work as well anymore and appropriate work clothes, commuting costs and a vacation have to be in the budget.

You may or may not know what type of work you will do or what it pays but you can keep tabs on how much you owe and what the loan payments will be upon graduation. This knowledge is valuable and can help to bring the long term consequences of today’s decisions into focus.

If you decide to make graduating with little or no debt your goal, it may take some creative planning and hard work to achieve but will pay dividends.

Here are some ideas:

• A part time job in a field of interest may lead to a longer term career.
• Grants and funding may be available to support your studies.
• Co-op programs.
• Networking through volunteer work or memberships can lead to valuable contacts.

Next post will be a case study.