I graduated law school in 2000 with $110,000 in loans. My wife came with a reverse dowry of her own $110,000 of law school debt.
It took us 17 years, but this summer we KILLED the last of it. Dead, Dead, Dead.
I kept the small loans separate without consolidation so as to target them for early termination. Next we threw everything at my variable rate private loan.
Had the balance down to 2 large Government loans fixed at 3.0% and 3.5% respectively.
Just sort of went into cruise control on making $730/month payments for a few years.
Then came into a windfall and decided to use to pay off the last $80,000.
Now I feel a little lighter and have another $700 bones to invest every month. Feels good and I want you to feel good too.
It is not the size of the debt that matters, it is all about debt management.