1 down, 359 to go

just talked to my loan company to set up my first student loan payment due next month.

me: "so, how many payments do i have on this loan?"

loan officer: "well, you have 30 years."

holy shit.

"30? years?"

"yes sir. that's 360 payments. 359 after you make this one."

i will be 57 when i'm done paying these loans. i may even be paying them after my yet-to-be-even-thought-of kids finish college.

the good news is that loan consolidation rocks. it lowered my monthly payment from $460 to $162, with NO net increase in cost (the beauty of federal student loans is that they are not term-driven).

no such consolidation exists for my private loans through citi bank. fukstix.