This post is sponsored by College Ave Student Loans and Her Campus Media. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Alicia Tenise possible!
I mainly chat about fashion, beauty, and mouth-watering food on here, but let’s talk about something that isn’t so glamorous: student loans. I absolutely love being a post-grad and I’m super stoked that I have an awesome career in the marketing field. However, I totally have to admit that I did not do anything in undergrad to prepare for my financial future. Really, anything. My monthly student loan payments are a bit higher than I’d like and not only is this cutting into my brunch funds, it really makes saving money for a house, a car, and just having a rainy day fund pretty difficult.
Even though I’m bogged down with undergraduate loans, one day I hope to go back to school and get my MBA. I definitely plan on being smarter with my lending now that I’m more conscious of my budget. College Ave is an organization that I wish existed back in my undergrad years. They’re an online marketplace lender that has a sole focus on student loans.
My favorite thing about College Ave is that they show you what payments you can make while you’re in school to reduce your payments post-grad. For example, if you make a monthly payment of roughly $100 while you’re in school for 54 months, you could reduce your post-grad payment by $70 each month. College Ave also offers lower interest payments to those students who choose to start paying off their loan while they’re in school.
I love that College Ave makes it super easy to save on student loans with a user-friendly interface. None of the loans I chose broke down what my monthly payments would be after I graduated, nor did they break down the benefits of paying off a loan in school. College Ave even has a mobile-friendly application with a sleek, easy to use interface and borrowers can receive a credit decision in less than three minutes.
If you’re still in school, make sure to enter College Ave’s Instagram Contest! Share your college goals for your chance to win a $5,000 scholarship and a $50 Chegg credit for textbook rentals.
To all my post grad friends: what do you wish you did differently in school to prepare for your financial future?
I’m just getting started with paying off my college loans and settling into this post-grad season. I wish I knew more about the whole process! I think it’s so important to be aware of how much you’re borrowing and strategics to approach it all!
Good luck with the loans…I’m still paying mine off but don’t regret one dime I spent!
Laura
http://www.24-7style.com