This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
When I was in college, I used my student loans to finance my lifestyle.
I worked at a decent-paying job ($9 an hour for a job related to my major), but that wasn't enough. I needed more. So I took out student loans, even though scholarships covered most of my tuition and housing expenses.
Even worse, I didn't really understand the value of the college education I was getting. I completed a major, decided it wasn't for me, completed a different major, and took enough classes for some minors along the way.
When I finally graduated after six years, I had accumulated about $35,000 in student loan debt. Including interest, I've paid about $32,000 so far, and I've got about $16,000 left to go.
What did I learn from this disaster, and how can college students use what I learned? A lot of students entering college take out student loans to pay for it. The money they're spending, in the form of loans, far exceeds the money they're taking in. I know all about it. I was doing this very thing just a handful of years ago. I made some incredibly stupid mistakes along the way, and it takes a lot of hindsight to see the things I could have and should have done.
If I had it to do all over again -- if I were a college student today with a big pile of student loans building up and not much income -- here's what I would do.
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