School loans are insane.

I recently read about a girl who went into $200,000 worth of debt from school... and she is my age. 23.

Are... you... kidding?

That's a lot of money. She has an explanation - studying abroad, the school is expensive, misc. things.. but $200,000???

But after reading about her, the thoughts of my own debt have kept creeping up into my mind. I honestly don't know anything about my loans. I know I have 3 - Parent Plus, Subsidized & Unsubsidized. I know I'm paying the interest on one of them. I also know they send me lots of mail. I made a $100 payment which included $40 worth of interest and $60 worth of my principle balance a few months ago but I didn't even know what loan that went to.

So tonight I finally started reading about my loans. I owe about $20,000 right now, and I am only at the end of my 3rd quarter. Granted, art school is expensive, but did I really need to take an extra $3,000 out earlier this year to help me with my rent? No.. no I didn't. I just didn't want to work, I wanted to spend time on Etsy and having fun.
This quarter, I actually forgot to pick up my $1,500 check that I planned on "putting away so that I'd  guarantee moving out in the summer". I realized that I didn't need it. I also got a job, and because I don't have many bills, have been spending a lot less money.

I also found out that my Parent Plus loan has interest of about 8% - that's kind of a lot since this is the loan I get most of my money from. The only loan I'm not paying interest on right now is the subsidized, and of course that is the lowest source of funds. It's just so bogus - I'm paying sooo much money, & while I am confident in my abilities to pay it back as fast as possible when I graduate, if I'm already at $20,000 after 3 quarters, then I will be owing almost $70,000 back.. plus interest!!! Holy crap!! and this is without gen eds!

I guess I can also consider that I'll be getting a pell grant of about $700 each quarter so that definitely helps! and I want to take a few days to look at scholarships and grants. I just can't imagine spending so much money, not including art supplies I always have to buy for each quarter - on a degree I'm already halfway done with! It really, really confuses me to see people as freshman taking English classes at my school, because I know that I took them for basically free, but I guess to each their own!

So I counted my money in my little jar labeled "school loans" and it's $16. Not too bad! However, I have a feeling that jar will be getting filled up a little quicker now that I'm starting to see how much I will owe in the future. Kinda crazy!!!!

--marjie