About Matt

In 2001 I had the wonderful dream of becoming an airline pilot.  After some half educated searching and a little bit of dumb luck, I landed a spot at Daniel Webster College in Nashua New Hampshire.  Money matters were the last thing on my mind at the time.  After all, I was going to become an overpaid airline pilot making $400,000 a year.

All I had to do is get all that free money everyone is always talking about.  You know, all of the scholarships, government grants, federal loans, and if all else fails a really easy-to-get private loan.  A few signatures and a few disbursements later and I was in.

As luck would have it, I would quickly meet the woman who would become my wife.  We had so many dreams in common, and we had very similar underage reasoning when it came to how we would pay for school.  Throughout our time at school we would simply fund our private education with a signature here and a signature there.  Luckily after the first cosigned loan, I could get approved for as many future loans as I wanted to without the consult of my parents (Funny the way credit works).  My wife, (girlfriend at the time) and I continued pursuing our dreams for the next few years.

After three years or so, we both started coming to the realization that maybe becoming pilots was not our dream after all.  My wife dropped out of school to pursue a career in nursing, while I decided to transfer to a business career path.

Ultimately I graduated while my wife became a stay-at-home mother.  When we woke up from our teenage dreams and uneducated decision making, we were severely in debt with only one small income to make ends meet.  Student loans were deferrable (or forbearable) so we did what we could to put them off and keep the money for our children and family to survive.

Later we learned the horrors of just how toxic student loan debt is, and just how horrible the consequences of not paying can be: torn family relationships, financial stress, unsure future, and the constant thought that things will likely continue to get worse.

Long story short… We are a family that has chosen to make each other more important than the finances, and ultimately we will suffer for that decision.  One way or another, things can never be the same as if we didn’t take on this massive debt.

This site is dedicated to helping those who are in our current situation deal with the consequences of their actions in an educated way, as well as plead with those who are just now entering the college age to please consider how you will change over the years.  Please don’t get yourself into the same situation that we got ourselves into.  Get a financial education before you get a college education and you will be much happier for it.

To those who are eyeballs deep in student loan debt: you are not alone, and one way or another, we’ll get out of this and be better for it.

Matt