Additional Coverage:
- I spent 20 years and nearly $100,000 paying off my student loans. I’m done just in time for my youngest to start college. (businessinsider.com)
In 2006, armed with a fresh MBA and a mountain of student debt, Trisha Daab began what would become a two-decade journey to repay her loans. Back then, Pluto had just been reclassified as a dwarf planet, and Daab was juggling life as a single mother earning around $36,000 a year. Encouraged by a manager who told her a graduate degree was essential for career advancement, she invested in her education despite accruing over $69,000 in combined undergraduate and graduate loans.
For nearly 20 years, Daab’s monthly budget included a steadfast student loan payment of $345.19, starting in December 2006. Early payments went primarily toward interest, but over time, more of her money chipped away at the principal. It wasn’t until 2022, when her oldest child graduated college and her financial obligations shifted, that she began making extra payments, determined not to carry this debt into her mid-50s.
By early 2026, Daab paid off her loans entirely, having paid a total of $98,442.88-less than the projected $108,000-thanks to careful planning and extra contributions. Reflecting on this milestone, she shared how liberating it felt to close this long chapter. The loans had tied her to a career in marketing and Corporate America, a path she left behind in 2023 to pursue travel writing.
Now, with her youngest child graduating high school and her husband retiring, Daab is exploring new possibilities, including teaching-a suggestion from her youngest during their celebration over coffee. After twenty years of financial commitment, she’s finally free to chart a new course without the weight of student debt.