Snowballing Loans, Taco Bell and My Escape to Brazil

By Candy

I’ve never been wild about taking out student loans, mainly because the idea of being tied to multiple thousands of interest-gaining dollars makes me a bit queasy.

I mean, if I were given the option between eating a big ice cream cone and taking out multiple student loans, I’d probably have to go with the ice cream. Maybe that’s a poor example. Regardless, upon entering college I had no choice but to borrow an amount of money to equivalent a lifetime supply of Taco Bell. A significant sum, considering my weakness for Baja Blasts.

To add to the confusion, I had taken out both a subsidized and unsubsidized loan. The subsidized one was a fixed amount until I graduated, but the unsubsidized loan started snowballing right from the beginning. Luckily, this loan was significantly smaller than the subsidized one. Regardless, I was advised to pay it off as quickly as possible because at the end of four years, by a conservative estimate, I would owe approximately eighty kabillion dollars.

Fortunately, by the end of the summer I was able to pinch together enough cash from my job as a professional assassin (it’s boring, but it’s part of my life) to make a lump-sum payment that would cover the initial loan and the $33 of interest that had already accrued. Accrued. I’ve always wanted to use that word.

To read the rest of Evan’s awesome post, head on over to HonestCollege!!

[Lead image via karen roach/Shutterstock]