Going to school is fun.  I am very satisfied with my experience, and look forward to all of the opportunities that my educational pursuits will bring over the next few years.  But there comes a time when we all must realize that the four-year undertaking that  we all signed up for is not free.

I did something this week that I had put off for a while because it was “scary”.  I have been receiving my notices that my student loan payments will start in December.  The only thing I could think about was “Uhhh.. Wow! I am going to be broke!”  I found a web page where it lists all of the loans I have out.  That page is https://www.dlssonline.com.  I found out the total amount of my loans (all FAFSA-based loans), and my eyeballs popped out of my head.  

In addition to the notices that my payments will start in December, I have also been receiving tons of mail from banks and other financial institutions wanting me to consolidate my loans.  I have been procrastinating on this as well, because it involved finding out how much I really owed.  So this past Friday, I bit the bullet and made a couple of calls.

I called CitiBank because they hold a majority of my loans.  I spoke to a very friendly and informative representative there who was able to answer all of my questions.  He also was able to tell me how much my payments would be if I used CitiBank to consolidate.  I was pleasantly surprised when he told me that my payments would only be a little over $300.00 a month based on the amount I borrowed over the past four years.  I was pretty happy about that.  That’s not a huge impact on my budget, and while it will take me forever to pay it off, it’s a very manageable amount.  

The interest rate was very nice as well.  Furthermore, if I make my payments on time for three years, the rate drops.  And if I have my payments automatically withdrawn from my bank account, it drops even further.  So there are some nice options out there for those who use federal loans.  I was scared to even approach this subject, but it was time since I am about to graduate.  Nothing is free in this world.  The time comes to pay the fiddler sooner or later.  Now that my time is almost here, I was happy to find that the fiddler didn’t want my arm, leg, and first-born child as repayment for my educational pursuits.

I did find out that I cannot start the consolidation process until after I graduate, but as soon as I do, that will be the first thing I do.  Now that I have taken this step, I would encourage everyone to find out what you owe and work with the lenders to consolidate your finances into something more manageable for you.  It’s a great load off of my shoulders and mind now that I’ve taken the time to find out my options.