With a new year upon us, I find myself reflecting on the year that 2020 was. I am a bit surprised that I have more reflecting that I am doing since it seems like I did a lot of that this year. Didn’t we all? 2020 was the year that flipped all that we knew on its head and forced us to re-evaluate evvvvvverything. There are so many things to say, but I wanted to focus this post on the similar trend related to budgeting and more specifically, student loans.
Since giving birth for the first time, I continue to see how birthing has taught me valuable life lessons. One lesson has come from a metaphor that I learned to help with managing the “wave of energy,” or contractions. It seems counter-intuitive to focus on relaxing when you feel pain and the natural response is to usually tense up. (Our trained and nurtured responses to pain and perspective on pain could be a whole conversation within itself.) But that is essentially the key! And it may sound corny or what ever word you want to choose, but hey – it works for me! With each wave of energy, I envision being in the water and sometimes you can ride it out. Other times, it is easier to get through that rough spot when the wave is so big, by duck diving and going straight through it. This same type of facing-the-problem-head-on-approach has been applicable to many other areas of my life, not just birthing.
Another thing that I’ve been working on that isn’t necessarily visible on this budgeting journey, is changing my mindset. I want to commit to reading more, but one book that I have been reading is Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva. Duck diving through the problem that is student loan debt is how I make sense of what I have (re-)learned from this book with re-developing my relationship with money and how to heal.
Coming down from the clouds for a moment, and getting re-grounded in where we are right now, after many months of student loans being on hold because of the pandemic, it seems that student loan payments may become due again starting in February 2021. A few things changed in mine and my ʻohana’s situation where I will likely be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness again. This reminded me of a wound and I share this as part of my healing.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is an alternative student loan repayment method where, among other conditions or stipulations, if you work for a state or nonprofit organization and make 120 on time payments (which is generally one payment/month over 10 years), the rest of your student loan debt is forgiven. On top of that, in Hawaiʻi, there are additional programs that assist with the same type of loan forgiveness after serving in rural areas of need for a certain amount of years for certain professions, one of which is for health professionals.
It has been part of my personal journey with my educational background in public health and law where I am not always seen as a health professional or an attorney. Let’s let that sink in for a bit.
Nevertheless, I was essentially laughed at by a fellow Native Hawaiian and was told how attorneys are not in need for the Native Hawaiian community when I inquired about such loan forgiveness programs applying to someone like me.
I haven’t written a dissertation on the supposed no need for Native Hawaiian attorneys serving Native Hawaiian community, but I would guess that the Access to Justice reports provide data to the contrary. And to my knowledge, I am the only Native Hawaiian with an educational background in public health and law who is working in a capacity to improve Native Hawaiian health.
While I am thankful for these loan forgiveness programs, and the benefits seem obvious, it is not as easy at it seems. One challenge for me is that you have to be working full-time. Full-time is defined differently from one employer to the next, but the federal PSLF defines full-time as 32+ hours (or at least that’s how it was defined the last time I checked). Since our hiapo was born in 2012, I have held full-time work for less than a year that would qualify for this PSLF program.
Another challenge is that typically state or nonprofit organizations are not able to pay as much as a private sector employer. The impact of this is likely self-explanatory, but in short, we all know it is not cheap to live in Hawaiʻi.
And for our ʻohana, another challenge is that my husband and I both have student loan debt. Sure there are other families where both parents or partners have student loan debt, but I would guess that it is more common where only one person in the family has student loan debt.
As we continue on our journey to becoming debt free, I still have no regrets with regards to our student loan debt. But I do hope we continue to find additional ways to student loan forgiveness or cancellation so that our keiki will not have to carry these same burdens.
Here is one question that I have been thinking about for some time and would be interested to know your thoughts.
What are the pros/cons, advantages/disadvantages, in comparing the following pathways to paying off student loan debt with the goal of purchasing a home:
Pathway A: PSLF on an income-based repayment plan
Pathway B: make extra payments toward student loan debt and pay off student loans as quickly as possible