NY Times - Did Anyone See This?

[DCJenn]

I paid off the last $500 of my student loan on Friday. It felt GOOD. I have to say, his being salaried through medical school and all through training and all of the benefitswe get (free health care, living and housing subsidies, the GI bill for dependents, a permanent pension based on years in service, etc.. more than makes up for the fact that he 'could' theoretically make more as a civilian. My educaiton debt was for a second Master's that I never finished- GWU was 3k per class which was a bit more of an investment to only end up in the not-for-profit world.

Jenn

[smama]

Ugh. This depresses me. We have about 225k in edu debt for dh. And yes, we have defered the loans and will continue to until he is done with training. We have one private loan we took out to cover residency interviews and moving for residency which we are currently paying back. When we first took loans I was shocked at the repayment and how much and how fast the interest adds up. If we could pay down his debt during residency we would, it's just not possible. At least dh will be in a surgical career so we have hope we can live super frugal and pay it off fastish.

Chrisada- we also considered me working after oscar came but after crunching the numbers we would only have come out about $200 xtra a month and O would never see me or dh. You gotta be flexible and I'm dissapointed at your husbands narrowmindedness. Yes, debt and interest are scary. I had a hard time subcoming to the reality of it and taking it on, but it's necessary in some cases and just something one has to come to terms with.

I really don't understand the woman in the article. She's got her head in the clouds. If anything this article reafirmed my fear of loans and the mental dilligance required to pay them off & survive.

This. Word for word.

[Luanne123]

(free health care, living and housing subsidies)

Jenn, I wouldn't call it free. He did spend time Deployed, and you live every day with the possibility of another Deployment. I know what Caroline has gone through, and FREE is not the word I would choose. I am so happy and proud of all of the military being there for ME.