• fender_symphonic584@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I graduated in 2011 from a state school in Minnesota. $90k in student loans. Private, parent plus, the works…first job out of school I averaged $50k on an hourly job, and only got up to about $65k by 2017. Got married with that debt, my wife had none. We both worked, my job and hers gave us combined income ~$75k. One bed apartment rent was $950 back then, we owned 2 cars, both beaters, no debt. Paid it all off in late 2019. No debt since then except a mortgage.

    • Seleni@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      $50K is not shit wages. Minimum wage is, for example, $13.25 in MD. That is shit wages. And lucky you to find such a cheap apartment, and be able to share it. Nowadays, using MD again for consistency, you’ll be paying $1450-$1600 a month for a studio, if you’re lucky. And what if you don’t have someone to share that with?

      And don’t get me started on the mercurial rise of food products. The luck you have to roll to have a beater not die on you with no way to revive it (mine just did; I can revive it, to the tune of $4,000).

      You didn’t have it trust-fund-easy, but you still didn’t have it all that bad.

    • ZombieTheZombieCat@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      parent plus,

      We both worked, my job and hers gave us combined income

      That’s so nice for you that you had other people to carry your debt burden for you.

      • fender_symphonic584@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        It was so nice of them that I paid those loans off too! They didn’t pay a cent. Also, I was upfront about my debt. She didn’t have to marry me. I’m grateful she did.