Paying for a college education for yourself or a child is one of the largest purchases you will ever make, second only to a house. In this Instablog, Russell shares his personal story about why he chose to go to Harvard, how he paid for it, and how he paid off his student loan debt in just two years. Then he shares some advice on making smart, informed decisions about educational expenses.
Topics Discussed:
Why Russell chose to go to Harvard
How Russell paid off student loan debt in 2 years
Making an informed decision when choosing a college
You can watch this video and others on the Voice Wealth Management YouTube channel.
Transcript:
Hi, I'm Russell Rivera, founder and president of Voice wealth management. And welcome back to our Instablog series. I don't know when you'll see this, but it's late August and President Biden just announced a $10,000 Forgiveness of student loans for many borrowers, I figured I wanted to not necessarily respond, but share my own story as to, regardless of where you are, how you can for yourself, or for your kids go through the process if you are not one who is going to be able to pay everything for college for themselves for yourself or for your children. It's just a little bit of my own story. And I thought it might be relevant and helpful.
So my father was a career educator, my parents divorced when I was 10, or 11. And so, you know, my father was mostly estranged from me. However, I know he took education very seriously. When he came to my senior year of college, I did have a meeting with him, you know, an outing, whatever you want to call it a visit. And he, you know, I was a little prodded to do so. But I did ask whether or not he'd be able to help pay for my college education. He's not a man whose parents helped him pay for his, he had a st– you know, he got up at 3am to do his homework, and then got in the back of a truck for 45 minutes to get himself to school, everything very, you know, different time for Puerto Rico. You know, just the advantages weren't there. His response to me was when he hit the lottery, I basically decided I was never talking to him against a bet again after that, because the hypocrisy. But regardless of that, what it put me in was in a situation where I needed to make an informed decision about how I was going to handle the education process and more to the education funding process.
So that being the case, I applied to all the schools, I got all my acceptances. And I built a spreadsheet. And I simply said, what are the pro– what are the programs that are being offered? What are the packages that are being offered? Where am I most likely to get the greatest return on my education in comparison to what I was being asked to pay. So schools like Emory and GW went out the window. They gave me low packages with what I deemed to be a relatively low return. Other schools like SUNY Buffalo, ironically, and Harvard, were giving me a much better return, even though I you know, for one was going to be completely free. And one was going to, you know, I was going to have to take out loans.
I decided to go to Harvard. I can understand why everyone would say, why wouldn't you? Why would you have decided to go anywhere else, but money was a big part of it. And I'm thankful for that. But beyond that, I also when I came out of school – and I took a year off from school where i had started paying my loans, making a couple hundred dollars a week, which is what I was doing at the time. Beyond that I may have worked five jobs in college. I worked six days a week during the summer, sometimes seven so I could have good footing for myself. And I was able, fortunately, to be able to pay off my loans within two years after school was over. I had over $20,000 in debt back in 2000. At the first opportunity, I had to pay it all off. I did.
So that being the case, this is a doable thing if you take the right view of it. Regardless, again, if you're a parent, or a student. Don't depend on others to figure this out for you. You have to figure it out for yourself. You have to know what you're getting into. And if you don't know how to figure this out, your education has failed you so again, this is doable. Think about it, figure it out, take a systematic approach. This is the second biggest purchase of your life, if you're a student, if you've got to pay for it, next to buying a home. Again, it can be done, no matter where you are, as long as you apply a rigorous process and think about it - you you with your kids, or you with your parents, or whatever it needs to be. But again, be smart. Make sure you're gonna get in return for what you're studying for what you're doing. And that'll be the story.
I know this has been a long Instablog. But thanks for joining me on my walk. And we'll see you next time.
Russell D. Rivera, CFA, CFP® is the Founder and President of Voice Wealth Management (Voice) in New York, NY. He also likes to think of himself as a Personal CFO and Financial “Therapist” for entrepreneurs, young professionals, and their families. He helps clients make prudent financial decisions regarding spending, saving, investing, and planning while giving a voice to the individual client's financial priorities and experiences.