A plan to pay off student loans whilst still in college: (Personal Entry)

My plan

I don't know how long I'll stay in college, but I'd better keep enjoying it because it's the only way to keep student loans from drowning me. The worst loans I have are the Alternative Loans. I plan to pay off all my Alternative Loans with the Unsubsidized, Subsidized, Perkins loan, and grant refunds.

Then once the Alternative private loans are paid off, I will pay off my Unsubsidized loans with my Subsidized, Perkins loan, and Grant refunds. Then after the Unsubsidized loans are done, the Subsidized loans come next. Once I only have Perkins loans, they will be far more manageable than the other loans, and I can join the Peace Corps because serving there pays off 15% of those loans every year.

Sure, when you say "Life is Short," life may be short now, but our expectancy keeps rising every year. If age 40 is the new 30 nowadays, 40 will be the new 20 by the time I'm 40.

Advice for you, if you are in a similar bind

If your job is barely letting you get by or is otherwise just not sufficient enough to help pay off student loans, here is how you can accelerate the process.

There are worser loans and better loans. Let's start off with the worst:

1. Pay off your credit cards with your private, alternative loan refunds.


2. Pay off your private, alternative loans with your unsubsidized loan refunds.


3. Pay off your unsubsidized loans with your subsidized loan refunds.


4. Pay off your subsidized loans with your Perkins loan refunds.


5. Pay off your Perkins loans with grant refunds (and possibly by serving in the Peace Corps.)


6. Enjoy your grants!

You'll have to pay off your private loans over a period of 10 (or opt for 15) years at a fixed amount no matter what. For federally-backed loans however, you can negotiate a payment plan that works for you. (Example: 10% of your income, no matter how low it is, starting from a minimum of $40/month.)

What would be better is to not take out private, alternative loans in the first place. They are the worst kind of student loans; a lesson I've since learned.

Endnote

One of the reasons I took out alternative loans was because I operated under the assumption that there was no tomorrow. That is, no tomorrow beyond December 21, 2012. (That is the famed date when the Mayan Calendar ends, and more according to this article about the 2012 doomsday prediction.) I had hoped there would be an apocalypse starting that day that would obliterate Sallie Mae and wipe my slate clean with them while I hid in a fallout shelter somewhere.

But I had a moment of enlightenment and started operating under the assumption that the Apocalypse may not happen on that date; that Jesus Christ may not come back then, and that life will go on as usual. That's why I made this payoff plan to pay off higher-interest loans with lower-interest loans and grants.

"Annie" wants me to call her "Annette." Others can call her "Annie." I have equality issues. (Personal Entry)

Foreword: Names and demographics edited

Sample story

Tyler came up one day and asked, “Hey, Betty, when did they say that Family Home Evening was again?”

“It’s ‘Beatrice,’ and it’s at the Institute at 7.”

As Tyler walked away, he wondered why Beatrice keeps correcting him about her name, as he hears other people call her Betty, and she doesn’t seem to mind them.

Later, he overheard Lillian talk to Beatrice.

“So, you think Scattergories is a nice board-game to play at FHE, Beatrice?”

“I guess if enough people agree to play it, then it is."

Tyler walks up to Lillian. “Hey Lily, do you ever call her Betty?”

“I used to, but she told me to call her Beatrice. She said she doesn’t know why it agitates her to call her Betty but it just does.”

“Are others forced to call her by her full name or is it just us?”

“From what I observe, it’s just us. We ought to talk to the Missionaries or President Beauregaard about this; the way Betty restricts how we address her, offends me.”

"Maybe it's by how we stand out. I'm the only one confined to a wheelchair at this Institute, and you're the only one wearing a wig. You don't think she..."

"Well actually, it appears to be. If only chemotherapy wasn't dumb enough to make me lose my hair, you know. And it's as if that wasn't enough; remember when my wig fell out in front of Betty when playing Twister that one night?"

"Oh, the nerve. There's just no sense in discriminating by handicap. That could be as bad as doing the same by race, religion, and any other demographic. Isn't handicap a demographic too?"

"I'd be inclined to say it is."

Actual story below

(The names below have been changed in the actual tale.)

At Institute, everyone else calls her “Annie.” “Annette Windex” first learned of my “personality secret” (a certain demographic) when she and her fiancé “Craig Brownback” saw some books pertaining to that demographic/secret when they helped me unpack my apartment after returning from Japan last August.

Annette and Craig kept the discovery to themselves because they knew by my silence about these books, I felt uncomfortable talking about it. Months passed, and at some point Annie told me about my secret, etc, etc. We had a missionary session at her apartment with Todd June (That’s you, Tommy) and soon after we left, she sent me a Facebook message saying that I’m to only call her Annette.

Some weeks later, Solara Randomhouse (That’s you, Cami. Cami --> (Toyota) Camry --> (Toyota) Solara. Moreover, Webster and Random House both make dictionaries.) was talking about Annie, and I told her that “Annie” is what she goes by online, as she told me in a Facebook message, and that she prefers to go by “Annette” in real life.

Then I later told Annie that I corrected Solara about her name and she told me not to; other people can call her Annie because it somehow doesn’t agitate her when others call her that, but it does if I do, and that she doesn’t know why it agitates her, but that it just does. That agitated me, and made me think of how some people get agitated when people with handicaps talk to and/or deal with them, and even when they’re in the same room with them. Would anyone who reads here agree that those tendencies are offensive? I am with you right there!

I can only wonder how things would be different between Annie and I if she had not have seen those books. I feel so unenthralled at this restriction of what to call her that I don’t even want to say her name when I address her. I can call her Annie out of her earshot so I can feel better about it.

Possibly she is restricting what I’m to call her because of my secret/demographic, and what good comes out of that? However, I would not mind calling her any name she wants me to if she became my friend here again.

What I almost posted to the newsfeed, but didn't. (Personal Entry)

I almost posted what is now entry #1 on this note today, because as I got done typing, I had second thoughts. I felt more comfortable posting it here instead, as it takes more effort for someone to get to and read a note like this one, whereas the main newsfeed's stories post immediately, therefore taking less effort to read. Since this note takes a few mouse-clicks to get to in the first place, less people will read it. Now...

Status Updates I Almost Posted To The Newsfeed:

1. ...thinks the world of intensive body language, inflections and other related subtleties are Way too much to bear! He's waiting for the day an age-reversing magic bullet arrives that will turn him back to the height and appearance of the boy on the profile picture.

2. ...has now figured out a way to cope with rejection - write about it in a note, but give the rejector an alias. (Unless the event was exceptionally painful that the rejector does not deserve an alias. Which in that case, I may set that note's privacy settings so only a few trusted friends read it.)

3. To any fellow Kansan: Will you ask for his or her number tonight? Beware of 785-875-3188 - that is the REJECTION HOTLINE NUMBER. (Found here: http://www.rejectionhotline.com/rh-numbers.asp?id=S )

So if s/he gives you that number, dial it immediately, tell him/her that you're going to call it right now so s/he can get your phone number on his/her caller ID, and put your call on Speakerphone.

4. ...wonders how anybody with Autism/Asperger's will get a job, since eye-contact matters a lot in an interview, and is what Auties/Aspies anywhere have an issue with.

5. ...had a dream last night that he didn't show up for work, and told his boss the next day that his great-grandparent died, and where the funeral home was. So his boss sent flowers to a funeral home. The flowers were returned, so the boss took me into his office and gave me a big earful.

6. (More to come...)