As we enter the first few days of Summer, unfortunately my student loan payments do not have a summer vacation like I used to get back in college. Maybe that’s a good thing though, because it keeps me on my toes and even if there was a break – I’d probably keep making the same payments anyways! The past three months I was able to completely pay off one of my student loans which was a great feeling but unfortunately for the month of June, that streak has broken. It’s by no fault of my own though, as I continued to make my standard loan payment it’s just that my last 6.8% interest loan had a higher balance than I was able to tackle this month. If things go according to plan I’ll be able to completely pay off that loan next month, but for now the focus is on June.
Here’s what my student loans look like now:
I was able to put my full payment of $2300 towards my loans this month, with $500 going towards my private loans and then $1800 going towards my government student loans. I made the minimum payments on all those loans except for the highest interest loan Government Student Loan #8. There’s a little over $1200 remaining on that loan, so after next month I’ll have to make a decision on what loan to really start paying down after that.
One little milestone that I did manage to hit this month was that my outstanding principal has finally dipped under $50,000 which was nice to see. It would have been even nicer if the balance for my student loans had never even been over that number, but it’s probably a bit too late for that. But it’s another digit dropping down and right now the most important one that needs to be eliminated!
My yearly goals are obviously still on track, and now we have reached the midway point of the year for payments. As you probably remember from my previous student loan updates, I’ve been on track to not only meet both of my goals but exceed them. Since we are now in June, my goals should be at least 50% complete if I want to reach them by the end of the year:
Main Goal: $20,000 Principal Reduction: $14,650.51 so far = 73.3%
Stretch Goal: $25,000 Principal Reduction $14,650.51 so far = 58.6%
I was at 50% for my stretch goal last month, so it was easy to see that I’m on pace for both goals like I had said before. I might even be able to reach my main goal as early as September at this rate. Do you think I could even hit $30,000 paid towards my loans this year? That sounds crazy to even think about, but it is starting to look possible at this point.
photo credit: A Guy Taking Pictures via photopin cc
Once again, awesome progress! At this rate, hitting $30000 principal reduction doesn’t sound like a dream to me so I would say go for it. I’m curious, do you plan on going to grad school in a few years? If you do, any plans on handling the student loans situation then?
I have been thinking about graduate school for a while, my company actually offers tuition reimbursement for applicable graduate programs as long as you get an A or B. The amount they will reimburse is enough for about 2 classes a semester, but that’s about the max I would want to take while working anyways.
The only problem is that whenever anyone I work with talks about grad school…they always say how much they hate having to go to class after work, haha. I do think I’d like to go back at some point though but probably once I’m done with these loans as I do have to put the money out up front.
Thanks for your words of encouragement!