Am I a Fool?
As you all know, because I have exclaimed loudly, proudly and repeatedly, I finally paid off my student loan debt earlier this year. It was a huge weight off of my shoulders. However, I have always wondered if I was a fool for paying it all off. I have a friend who graduated with approximately $200,000 in student loan debt from law school! She is determined to utilize the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program to erase all of that debt. She has to make payments on the loans for 10 years and work for, in her case, the State (or some other qualifying employer) for that entire 10 year time period. She is on a income based repayment plan, which means her payments are about $700 a month. All and all she had a pretty cushy job. She makes about $70,000 a year, she has a retirement plan (to which the state contributes a portion) and she receives about 6 weeks of vacation time a year. Her job is pretty secure. The only uncertainty is, will the P...