The year was 2006. Pluto had just been downgraded to a dwarf planet. I was obsessed with my Motorola Pebl flip phone and iPod. It was also the year I started paying down my student loan balance after completing my MBA.
For 20 years, this student loan was a constant in my life, a staple of my monthly budget. It was older than my youngest child, and it was tied to a career I left in 2023.
Finally paying it off in 2026 was a moment that I couldn’t even fathom in 2006.
I was told I need to go to grad school to get a promotion
After earning my bachelor’s degree, I landed an entry-level communications job at a large public company. I was young and determined — a single mom making about $30,000.
After a year, that salary increased to around $36,000, but I was eager to get promoted and make even more money.
A manager gave me some advice: I would need a master’s degree to have any hope of moving up. I listened and started grad school in 2003.
The loans quickly added up
Three years later, I had my MBA and a bill for over $69,000. This was the combined total of my $20,000 in unsubsidized undergrad and over $49,000 subsidized grad-school loans.
At the time, that was a terrifying amount. After all, it was more money than I had ever made in a year.
But that manager was right. Getting my MBA was the key to getting promoted, which happened in 2006 when I landed a new job with a better title at a new company. My salary and bonuses greatly increased.
For almost 20 years, I made that monthly payment
The amount of my payment that applied to interest varied greatly over the 20 years it took to repay my debt.
I had a standard consolidated 30-year loan. My first loan payment was in December of 2006, and the automatic payments I set up would continue until November of 2036. Every single month, $345.19 was deducted from my checking account.
The first two payments went entirely toward interest, which was hard to stomach. Over the years that shifted to about 50/50 principal and interest, and then the interest got lower and lower.
I eventually started paying more than the minimum amount
When my oldest son graduated from college in 2022, and I was no longer giving him money for school, I was able to make extra payments and put a portion of my annual bonuses toward my loan repayment. I was determined not to be paying my student loans into my mid-50s.
I paid off the loan in early 2026. Rather than the estimated $108,000, the total amount paid was $98,442.88. It worked out to be $69,928.46 in principal and $28,514.52 in interest.
I didn’t realize how freeing it would be to pay off these loans
My life changed enormously in the 20 years I had been paying off my student loans. I had another child. I got promotions, changed companies, and helped my son and three stepchildren get through college, all while paying my own student loans.
I made a career change in 2023 and walked away from marketing and Corporate America — the reason I had gone to grad school in the first place. But every monthly student loan payment was a reminder of the investment I made in a career I no longer wanted. Some days, I felt irresponsible, paying for this degree I wasn’t really using anymore.
And now, two major life changes — my youngest graduating from high school and my husband retiring — are giving me more time and headspace to do something in addition to being a travel writer, the job I left my marketing career for a few years ago. Yes, I’m considering adding some more lines to my résumé.
I celebrated this milestone with my youngest over coffee
A few days after making that final payment, I received an email from the lender congratulating me that my student loan was paid off.
That was the moment it sank in. This thing that had been a constant in my life for over 20 years — through a second child, promotions, writing a book, even making a career change — is now done.
Paying off my student loans freed me from feeling an obligation to a career path I no longer want to pursue. Finally, my thoughts about what I want to do next changed.
Celebrating over coffee with my youngest, they shared what they think I should do next: teach. I might give that a try.
Time will tell what this next chapter will bring, but I’m glad my student loans won’t be following me.
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