<p>I just came across this article that some may find useful/encouraging.</p>
<p>The author outlines how she is paying off her student loans while still in school.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2010/03/07/reader-story-how-i-paid-off-18000-in-student-loans-while-still-in-graduate-school/[/url]”>http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2010/03/07/reader-story-how-i-paid-off-18000-in-student-loans-while-still-in-graduate-school/</a></p>
<p>* I think this is a potential trap that all students can fall into, both undergraduate and graduate, when deciding where to go to school: The financial implications of having to pay back those loans are so far outside your perspective when you sign a promissory note;** it’s not until you graduate and have to figure out how you’re going to pay hundreds of dollars every month for the next decade or two that the weight of your decision finally hits you**!*</p>
<p>It was with the realization that I’d be paying $800 a month for 20 years according to the “standard repayment plan,” and would end up paying as much in interest as the original loan amount, that I decided to embark on a much more aggressive repayment plan.</p>
<p>*
I am very lucky because** I have a husband who works full time** and is able to help support me while I am in school. *</p>
<p>Some great points above. However, when most are seeking grad degrees, they aren’t going to have a full-time working spouses (who likely don’t have loans of their own) willing to help provide funding.</p>