Surprising Benefits of Student Loan Debt

5 Surprising Benefits of Student Loan Debt

Before I get started writing about the benefits of student loan debt, I’d like to state my acknowledgement of my personal privilege. This is thanks to my generous parents and also my two older brothers who managed to pay for their college completely with military scholarships. Without their college expenses paid for, I’m not sure my parents could have afforded to help pay for mine. I also attended a great small private college in the middle of North Dakota, (shout out to University of Jamestown ) where I received an excellent education very inexpensively.

My husband was also privileged in that much of his undergraduate degree was paid for through various scholarships and help from his parents as well. My husband continued onto graduate school where the expense of his degree was large. He came away with about 170,000$ in debt and a D.C. by his name. We are aware that while we have a lot of student loan debt, we also are sitting on a lot of privilege. We are both college educated, with much of it given to us.

The Shame of Debt

5 Surprising Benefits of Student Loan Debt

We’ve recently begun to pay the remaining debt off very aggressively, but only in the past few years. Before this, we did a great job quietly trying to forget about it and maintain the lifestyle our peers were living. Only until we owned the shame, told people what we were actually paying per month to student loans (around 2,200$) and started aggressively working side jobs to make extra cash, have we started to see the end nearing.

The shame of debt is actually the worst part and until one realizes this, it will only hinder one from fully accepting and then working to pay off the debt. You see when you have shame, you spend more. When you have shame, you try to hide what you can’t afford, care more about what others think, and worry about “things” and “stuff.” When you own the shame or accept it, and make yourself vulnerable, you don’t care anymore. You own that at this point in your life you need to hustle. You need to create a side-business, get a second job, sell stuff, and get yourself out of the financial hole you’ve found yourself in.

The shame of debt also affects a marriage. One of the most common disagreements in a marriage is usually around finances. Until you get real about the shame and accept the current situation, you’ll never make a team effort. It will always feel disjointed and unfocused. You also bring about a lot of baggage with money, expectations that weren’t met, comparisons, and ego. It’s hard to see any benefits of student loans when you can’t see past your shame. Talking about finances was never enjoyable for either my husband or I. In fact, I would only bring it up when absolutely necessary and by that time there was probably a tangible problem to address.

It’s also really easy to play victim in a state of shame, especially with student loans. I could have easily, and I did for several years, become bitter at my husband and our situation. Thoughts like “It wasn’t my debt, and I shouldn’t have the burden of paying it back!” Although I personally am a fan of taking away the ability of colleges to charge extremely high tuition rates, placing blame just prolongs our current situation, since effort is not being put into a solution. Placing blame while feeling shame, makes you feel good for a bit. It unloads the problem on someone else, but it never really solves the problem, and so you stay stuck. You stay stuck in the “no solution” cycle.

5 BENEFITS  OF STUDENT LOAN DEBT

5 Surprising Benefits of Student Loan Debt

However, often the most challenging times teach the best lessons. Through our years of dealing with student debt and while working relatively low paying college educated jobs (teacher and associate chiropractor), we’ve come out the other side smiling. How could student loan debt make you smile? How could this burden be turned into a positive? Here are a few benefits of student loan debt.

Community –

There is a whole #debtfreecommunity inspiring me on the daily, sometimes with their own benefits of student loan debt! We realized, once we faced the shame of our debt, that many other people are in debt too. I like to be inspired by those who are making their way out of debt quickly. 

Identify When Being a Victim –

Placing blame is choosing to be a victim. One of the benefits of student loan debt is that you learn placing blame is a waste of time. I placed blame for several years, and it only negatively affected my marriage and myself. If you want to change someone, change yourself first. I decided that I was actively and aggressively going to make more money, save more money, and pay off more of our debt. After I made this choice, it didn’t take long for my husband to jump in. We’re both better off, and instead of nagging, or micromanaging our spending habits, we both are on the same page.

Financial Growth –

Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on Unsplash

Being financially challenged has been one of the benefits of student loan debt. I try to make  events in life into games. It might be the teacher in me, but isn’t it more fun if you can set a challenge for yourself and then try to meet it? I made the debt into a game by creatively finding ways to make more money. I picked up side projects at my job, sold stuff, asked for a raise,  got a raise,  asked for help from grandparents with childcare, started a tutoring business, and I researched ways to live my best life without materialistic influence. My capacity for financial growth grew, when I made the choice. We make financial goals each year and so far have hit them!

Finding Minimalism –

The idea of minimalism has been chasing after me for years, but it wasn’t until I had to directly face the fact that buying stuff does not make me happy. Accepting our student loan debt forced me into this realization. Minimalism has infiltrated my entire life, home, finances, family, diet, time management etc. The benefits have lead me to make intentional choices based on my highest priorities. It has shown me that what I’m after in life is freedom and love. 

Prioritizing  –

Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash

Prioritizing has been one of the benefits of student loan debt. I now am acutely aware of my top priorities and I make decisions based on these.  Before I would waste time and energy pursuing a lot of things, goals, or ideas that ultimately didn’t make me happy or leave me fulfilled. Having debt has made me aware of my priorities because I have less time and less money. I have to prioritize everything to make it work.

Final Words

Debt isn’t fun, and getting out of it is a lot of work, but I can look back and see the lessons that were presented to me. I have grown and learned. You know, there’s something enjoyable about the “grind” and being the underdog. Perhaps we’ll look back at this time in our life and wonder how we had energy for it all? How did we pull it off? We’ll smile, because we enjoyed the journey just as much as the freedom of reaching the goal. Best of luck to anyone who has #financialfreedom on their bucket list! 

Join the Discussion

What lesson has student loan debt taught you?

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Author

Maria Halcumb

-Maria Halcumb
B.A. in Secondary Education, English, and Physical Education
M.A. Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction and Reading Specialist