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Defeat Massive Student Loan Debt With Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

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Diploma
©Alex Kalmbach/PhotoXpress

You can’t imagine how terrible student loan debt is until you are faced with the bill — for the next 20 years of your life. This was my predicament 5 years ago, after I graduated from pharmacy school with about $220,000 of student loan debt.

I know what you are thinking, “But Christa, that number is outrageous!” Trust me, I know! About $30,000 of my student loans was from undergrad and the rest from pharmacy school. I would love to tell you that I only took out the minimum amount of loans to get by, ate ramen for every meal, and delivered pizzas 8 days a week, but I didn’t. I lived like most college students do without much of a budget. I wasn’t really thinking about my future self having to pay it all back with interest.

The 18-year-old student loan decisions have serious consequences

There is a lack of education concerning student loan debt among colleges. As a student, you are not usually educated about the repercussions of getting yourself into massive student loan debt. You make shortsighted financial decisions that can adversely affect your life for years and years.

Some of the student loan debt is because you are giving “free money” to a bunch of stupid teenagers (I can say this because I was one!). Some of the debt is also because tuition costs have skyrocketed. For instance, the pharmacy school I attended now costs $33,990 a year. This equals $135,960 in tuition for pharmacy school! That doesn’t even include undergraduate costs or costs of living.

Many post-graduate/professional degrees require this significant student loan burden

Many graduate degrees cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. How can anyone possibly afford this? Many need significant student loans and financial aid. I took student loans out because they were necessary for my dream job as a pharmacist. After pharmacy school, I was told that I’d pay for the next 20 years. My student loans cost more than the mortgage on my house!

I’m not the only person in this situation. Some have gotten into debt from graduate school and others have gotten into major student loan debt from undergrad alone. Fortunately, in 2007, the government started the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

The PSLF program is for those working for the government or in the public service sector. If you find a job in one of these areas and make on-time, scheduled monthly payments for 10 years, your remaining loans will be forgiven. But there are some important caveats and rules to look out for.

Confusing, right? Trust me, it does seem complicated when you are first starting out. Some people will start to look into it, get stuck, and forget about it. Lucky for you, I’m here to help!

Fundamentals of the PSLF program

What type of job do I need?

Qualifying employment includes:

  • Those who work for the government (ex- military, public libraries, police officers)
  • Those who work for public service non-profit company with a tax exemption code of 501(c)(3)

Tip: You can call human resources or even check your companies website for their tax exemption code.

Which type of student loans qualify?

Federal loans that were received under the Federal Direct Loan Program.

If you have student loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program, you can consolidate them into the Direct Loan program in order for those loans to be eligible.

Note: Private student loans are not eligible.

What repayment programs do I need to be on?

  • Income Based Repayment (IBR)
  • Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)
  • Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan
  • 10-year repayment plan (this is kind of silly since you would have nothing to forgive after 10 years)

What qualifies as an on-time, scheduled monthly payment?

In order to be on-time, the payment must be made no later than 15 days after the due date.

For the payments to count, scheduled monthly payments should be in active repayment status. You can’t be in a grace period, forbearance, and/or deferment.

Object Wealth Christa
Christa from Object Wealth

Where can I find out more?

You can go to the Federal Student Aid website. They have a bunch of information regarding student loans.

You can also come visit me on my site where I talk about all things personal finance, including my step-by-step guide to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

This is a guest post from Christa, the founder of ObjectWealth.com, a blog on personal finance and her journey to go from massive debt to building financial independence. She is also a hospital pharmacist and loves watching Game of Thrones (even though it gives her nightmares).

Filed Under: Loans Tagged With: college, debt, Graduate, loans, Programs, PSLF, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, school, Student Loans

Productivity Apps Don’t Make You Productive

By Frugaling 4 Comments

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I need context when I'm writing, this productivity app scares me.
I need context when I’m writing. This productivity app scares me.

“There’s an app for that.”

Apple trademarked this phrase about the diversity of applications available for iPhones. They might be right. Limitless button pressing is at my fingertips.

Wade through the fart and fake aging apps, and you’ll find a palatial collection of productivity applications (Android users: this goes for you, too). They get their own section of the App Store.

  • Do you run a business that needs a productivity boost?
  • Are you a frequent shopper of the household?
  • Have you thought about writing your first novel?

Yes, there are apps for every niche. Browse through the many apps present, and you might begin salivating over the productivity porn. Look at all of the opportunities to save time, money, and life — how enchanting!

Download a productivity app and you’ll travel into a rabbit hole. Hours may go by without any work. Every productivity tool has a learning curve. It takes time to learn skills and make them habitual. Trying something new is rarely, if ever, seamless. Apps are fun to manipulate and play around with — the interaction feels natural and it is.

Maybe you switch to another app — there’s another, better feature. Maybe the app you originally downloaded gets an update. Maybe you decide to downgrade back to another productivity system. Maybe you are struggling with syncing issues — the productivity app information is no longer across devices. There are a lot of maybes — I know — but something is inevitable. The learning curve never stops — you’re never freebasing productivity.

It’s easy to imagine productivity apps as a superhero’s cape. Put this on, and you’ll instantly be able to fight your assignments, organize your life, and win at work. The reality is that capes bog you down, aren’t aerodynamic, and take more time to put on. You’re busy fixing app changes, looking for the latest options, and browsing for new methods of saving time, as you pour it down the drain.

Time is limited. It motivates us to become more efficient. We’re desperate for more down time. I struggle to start difficult projects, but finding, downloading, learning, syncing, and beginning to use a new app is an illusion of productivity. It feels purposeful, but isn’t.

Wake from the productivity dream. You’re the only tool needed to complete your projects. That’s because productivity rarely comes from addition — only subtraction. Every computer contains all the productivity programs necessary: a word processor, calendar, and calculator. 99% of my tasks can be completed within these programs. When I’m desperate for a productivity app, it must be something that doesn’t require any interaction (i.e., IFTTT). When you add more to this system, you are significantly risking your total time.

I’m a writer. There are limitless productivity apps for my kind. But simplification and frugality don’t come from a $20 writing app for iPhone. Nothing more than a basic word processor is needed. I simply need to start typing.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Android, applications, apps, ifttt, iPhone, Productivity, Programs, smartphone, time

4 Free Apps For Productive Students

By Frugaling 6 Comments

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As a graduate student, writer, and instructor, I wear a lot of hats. One of my favorite parts is teaching students about technology. While it may sound trite, I learn a great deal from the students I interact with, and enjoy the opportunities for instruction. After teaching technology courses for a little while now and being a total geek all my life, I figured it was time to feature 4 free apps that help get me through my work day – fast.

1. Dropbox

Remember when you had to carry around a flash drive everywhere you went? Say goodbye to those days – the future is in the cloud. Dropbox is the leading cloud storage provider in the world. The company uses incredibly secure technology to keep my essays and research, private and safe. More importantly, when I’m working on shared research projects and/or presentations, Dropbox is my key collaborative tool. Now, people can edit, revise, and leave comments on documents that are synced in real-time, and accessible to me – instantly! It works like magic. If I were ever to lose my computer, I feel comfortable knowing that my stuff would still be available to me. Between the collaborative opportunities and storage backup, Dropbox is an easy choice. Plus, if you refer your friends, you get bonus storage for free!

2. Google Calendar

This is where my day begins. What am I going to have to do? Google Calendar is the always aware, always synced option that saves me a boatload of time and hassle. I know where I need to be and when – all the time. By opening up my iPhone calendar or navigating to Google.com/calendar, I can easily see what my week looks like. By utilizing this service, I save on paper, time, lost items, and much more. Google Calendar keeps me running.

3. LibreOffice

I’m a HUGE fan of open source technologies. Not only do I believe they can save you lots of money in the long run, but they also propagate a philosophy that’s about being inclusive and sharing. LibreOffice is a free platform that aims to compete with Microsoft Office’s suite of applications. If you are about to plop $100 or more on the Microsoft suite of applications, think again – there’s another way. Just download LibreOffice and try it out – you have nothing to lose. Moreover, I prefer the design options within LibreOffice and there are terrific opportunities for tech support all over the web.

4. TextEdit/Notepad

 

Are you stuck taking notes with a paper notepad? It’s time to upgrade to a stupid simple option that’s available on every computer (Mac, Windows, and Linux). Just open up the system’s pre-installed note taking app. For Mac users, it’s called TextEdit. I use this semi-religiously as my go-to app for quick notes and ideas. These applications start up faster than LibreOffice or Microsoft Office, and they are perfect for the busy student. Now, save and sync your notes to Dropbox, and you’ll be able to access them in the cloud and back them up

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: apps, Free, Productivity, Programs

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