December 2019, my husband submitted his final student loan payment. From the moment we got married and started attacking those student loans as a team, it took us 18 months to pay off $51,234.51. Of that debt, $34,134.51 were federal loans and $17,100 were private. There is not one part of me that begrudges the millions of Americans who are on the precipice of receiving $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan relief.
From the outside, it appears as if my husband and I “pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps” to pay off that debt and heck, if we did it, then all student loan borrowers should have to as well. But that’s simply not a practical, kind, empathetic or, frankly, a reasonable response.
In terms of the “bootstraps” narrative, it’s important to acknowledge that my husband and I earned in the low six figures collectively and had no other debt besides his student loans. Granted, we live in one of the most expensive cities in the country, but during that time, we still had enough flexibility in our budget to pay off student loans aggressively and live our lives. There was no rice and beans. We still took vacations, went out to dinner, invested in our retirement plans and had a healthy emergency savings account.
