My private student loans are keeping me from homeownership

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• Reading financial jargon at 18 was overwhelming, so I just drew what I needed to draw to start lessons.
• Unlike federal student loans, private loans are not covered by student loan forgiveness plans.
• I fear I will never be able to own a home because of my student debt, but I am focusing on solutions.

At 18, I was already overwhelmed by the amount of choices I had to make.

Which career path should I follow? Which school should I choose? Do I choose the school that has given me the most scholarships, or the one that offers programs that I am more interested in? How am I going to prepare mentally, emotionally, and physically to leave my parents’ house for the first time?

With all that to think about, researching student loans was the last thing I wanted to think about. All I wanted was to start building a career and a life that I was passionate about as quickly as possible. According to my school, I qualified for federal student loans, but they were not enough to cover the cost of my tuition.

Luckily, my mother helped me by co-signing my student loans. However, reading financial jargon at 18 was really overwhelming, and I just signed everything I needed to sign to start classes.

Here’s how signing for a private student loan changed my life.

Ten years later, I have barely made a dent in the loan principal

For a long time I felt too ashamed and guilty about my circumstances to even do that Look on my Navient account. When I finally checked, I realized that the principal balance had actually increased even though I had been making regular payments.

Because I was having financial problems, I postponed my loans for a few months. During that time, my loans earned capitalized interest. To be honest, if my mom’s credit wasn’t on the line, I would choose not to pay my Navient bill just to build myself a healthy emergency fund.

I’m afraid I’ll never be able to save for big milestones

Because my monthly payments are so high, I fear I will never be able to buy a house or start a family of my own. Every time I make my monthly payments, I fantasize about how I can use that money for family planning, especially since fertility treatments for LGBTQIA+ people are sometimes not covered by health insurance.

Because I don’t have good credit, I feel trapped in a cycle of paying off debt and watching my savings dwindle because I can’t afford to deal with emergencies. Unlike federal loans, private student loans will not be forgiven under any forgiveness plan that comes to fruition.

Once I realized how predatory the student loan system really is, I decided to focus on solutions

Earlier this year, I learned that a study by the Student Debt Crisis Center, in partnership with Savi, found that 89% of full-time borrowers are not financially secure enough to pay their student loans. When I saw that number – 89% – I realized that I’m not the only one struggling with my student debt and that giant student loan companies don’t really care about our quality of life.

Once I stopped blaming myself for signing those papers without reading them, I was able to focus on solutions. In 2022, I plan to start refinancing my student loans for a shorter repayment time and lower interest rates. I’m also going to work with a financial planner to build an emergency fund and take control of my finances.

This article originally appeared in January 2022.