Be Prepared For The Unexpected

If there’s one thing I learned from college, it’s that no matter how carefully you try to plan everything, there’s always the unexpected. Even if you do finally reach your goal, the path to that goal usually takes a few surprising twists and turns along the way. My journey through grad school has definitely turned out that way.

When I started grad school, I was informed that most students take about 3 years to complete the program I was entering. I was more excited to learn that almost all the students were able to find jobs in related industries. Based on how smoothly I sailed through my undergrad years, I figured I would finish up in 3 years and probably get a job with one of the companies on my top 5 list.

But what fun would life be without a few hurdles?

Completing the coursework was a breeze, but the thesis has proven to be the biggest mountain I’ve had to climb. Throw in a bad breakup with my long-time girlfriend in the middle, and here I am, 4 years later, still finishing up the final requirements for my degree.

Despite the setbacks, I’m actually still on track to accomplish my goals. It’s just not quite in the time frame or the order I intended. I’m already working for one of the companies on my top 5 list, even though I haven’t finished my degree yet. However, I just successfully defended my thesis, so I should finally graduate later this year, a full 4 years after I started the program.

Financially, there have also been a few bumps along the way, but I’d like to share a recent bump in particular. I started a new job in January, which means that I moved away from school before finishing my degree. As a result, I only registered for a single credit hour this semester to stay enrolled in the program. While this minimized my tuition and fees, it also meant that I was no longer a full-time or half-time student. Unfortunately, you only qualify for in school deferment on student loans if you’re at least a half-time student.

Under normal circumstances, this situation would just mean that my six month grace period would have started this semester, because I no longer qualify for in school deferment. However, I consolidated my student loans while I was still in school (students can no longer do this). This allowed me to lock in a low 3% interest rate for all of my student loans, but it also meant that I gave up my six month grace period. This means that my student loan payments start immediately!

Needless to say, I was a little surprised to get a statement for a student loan payment last month. Fortunately, I started saving up to repay my student loans back in November (when I started this blog), so I was prepared for this unexpected event. In fact, I’ve officially knocked out $2850 of my student loans already even though I wasn’t expecting to start paying them back until later this year. As much as we try to plan things in life, even if we do eventually reach our goals, things almost never quite go as planned along the way. I just wanted to share my experience as a reminder to be prepared for the unexpected.

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