Let's be honest: college really isn't affordable for anyone. High tuition rates have plagued our nation's universities for years, with thousands of dollars dropped onto a bill annually. Not to mention the added costs of room and board, a meal plan, and transportation. At this day and age, it is almost impossible for someone to walk out of a university on graduation day with $0 in debt weighing on them or their families.
As an incoming college freshman at a state university, I was intimidated when I saw the added costs of my schooling for the year. The amount I saw on paper was more than I had ever seen in my life. Understanding how this horrendous amount would multiply over the years I attended this school, I started to shrink back in fear and weigh my options. It was especially difficult for me, a child of a middle-class working family, to swallow the amount my family and I would be responsible for paying. I had applied for over 50 scholarships over the course of my junior and senior year, and had received two. I was able to obtain only one loan from the FAFSA, and the rest was just supposed to come out of thin air.
I was scared to death when I saw the amount I was responsible for paying. My thoughts immediately went into a downward spiral, such as, "I am going to be in debt for the rest of my life," or, "I am going to be a homeless bum who went to college!" While of course these thoughts are over-exaggerated to you, my 18-year-old mind could not and still has somewhat not been able to wrap around paying such a large amount of money. However, my thought process all changed after a visit to my college with my mom, and we sat down with my stepdad and crunched numbers to see what we would actually be paying.
At the time, my parents baffled me when their reaction to what college debt I would have was, "Oh thats not bad at all!" I was shocked! I had never seen that much money in my life! But what my parents helped me realize was just how blessed I am, and how the amount I had was not nearly as bad as it could be.
My parents helped me realize through a long conversation and some critical math thinking, that if I paid just the interest on my debt over the years, then a big chunk of my loan would be gone, and I could easily pay the rest monthly after I graduated. They also made me feel better by promising to help pay by taking out a loan themselves, which doubled that of the loan I was terrified of paying. They showed me that the odds are simple: everyone will walk out of college in debt. It just happens. Unless you're a multimillionaire, you're gonna be in the hole.
Still, I was scared. I didn't want to be in the hole. I didn't want to have debt hanging over me. I wanted my name to be out of the bank's mouth and my money to be invested somewhere else. But over the course of my worry, I have realized just how truly blessed I am in multiple ways. One of those ways is just the fact that I am going to college at all. In many other countries, females are banned from or looked down upon for even attending public school, much less a college or university. Another way is that I am getting help from others, such as my parents and other relatives, to chip away at my looming debt.
All in all, while debt can be scary and worrisome because it follows you and will multiply if you don't pay it, it is OK to have. It teaches you to invest well, be responsible, be punctual for payments and to handle tough situations one payment at a time.
