The Forty Grand in Student Loans I'll Never Pay

It's another post about money and school, but also about a mother's gift to her daughter and Jehovah Jireh.
It's my story and tribute of how my mother saved me forty grand in student loans. 40 grand that I'll never have to pay and what I was given instead--because of the lessons of my mother and the provision of my Heavenly Father.

Carpe diem
The story starts when I was a cute and naive 17  year old high school senior, perusing through financial aid packages and seeing the cheerful student loan amounts that promised me a bright future--or at least a seat in one of the 40-50 classes college students take to complete a bachelor's degree. The future was before me, and the day mine to seize if I only signed the dotted line. I also needed my mother's signature. I brought the papers to her nonchalantly. It was, after all, only a signature. She needed to, in every day terms, be a co-signer to my student loans. I brought the papers and the pen; all she needed to do was sign her name.

Refusal
She turned me down. She told me she wouldn't help me take out my loans. I translated it as she wouldn't help me jump-start my future. I thought she was ruining my life. I waved the paper around excitedly, begging, crying, insisting it was only five thousand.
"A semester," my mother corrected.
Five thousand a semester, multiplied times eight semesters equaled 40 thousand dollars. 40 thousand dollars in student loans, owed by a (future) 22 year old.
I pleaded with her. It's private. It's Christian. It's my degree. It's my life. I can't go to school without these. I can't find 40 thousand.

Awakening
I was wrong, very wrong.
Three years later (today), I planned out how I was going to pay for my remaining classes. (I have about three semesters left since I haven't started this current one yet.) I decided to brave it and calculate how much I will have spent in my own money in tuition, fees, and books.
By the time I have my bachelor's degree, that number will be about 25 grand.
Then, I decided to count my blessings calculate how many "extras" I've gathered so far from using words, both spoken and written.
Currently, it's about 10 grand.
Add in the year I spent at community college for the sole purpose of saving money, and I found my 40 grand.

40 grand in student loans that I'll never pay.
25 thousand of it from wages earned over the years. 10 thousand of it from speaking opportunities, Forensics trophies, and a noteworthy scholarship I won with my writing.
And 5 grand (plus!!!) saved  from a year spent at a community college, even though I swore I would never do that.

Soapbox

When I started out on my quest to find the 40 grand I couldn't borrow, I wasn't aware of the techniques at my disposal, or how overrated general education classes at a private school really are. I didn't know about CLEP tests. I didn't think about how living at home while going to a state school and working in my home town/area was an option. I just knew I needed to find that 40 grand that I wasn't going to get in student loans.I did it in a way more expensive and less efficient way than is possible. (Which explains my soapbox and why I'm constantly talking about better ways.)

But I still did it. 

I didn't find this 40 grand because I was poor. That was already factored into my financial aid package. The 40 grand in student loans was the remainder of my bill after financial aid.
My mom refusing to sign that dotted line not only saved me 40 grand in student loans but gave me priceless opportunities.

Priceless

I was blessed to be able to work in a home for the elderly, where I developed fast, beautiful friendships with some of the most amazing people I'll ever meet. I became tender-hearted towards the plight of the aged, aware of the epidemic of Alzheimers, and grew more in love with a population that I had before ignored.

I was given an expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas, and the opportunity to share my family's story, touch people's lives, and raise awareness on the difficulties of losing a parent/spouse/household provider.

I was able to hone my public speaking skills and develop the life-long confidence to speak before crowds of people easily.

I was able to grow a close-knit relationship with my siblings, and fall in love with the people God had blessed  me by allowing me to call family.

I was able to buy my own car--and pay for it in full as a college student. I had the funds to pay for my own insurance, gas, cell phone bill, and all other bills, while being able to treat my family to dinner, groceries, and Christmas/birthday presents, and I was a poor college student.

I was able to get married earlier than I might have AND not burden my new marriage with the presence of thousands, upon thousands of student loans.

I am able to pursue my degree in the economically unsound field of writing, a concentration that I am passionate about and truly love. I can pursue my degree and know that I will graduate without 40 grand of debt, and not worry about my potential career paying off my student loans.

My husband and I will be able to have children sooner (God willing) than we would have--had I owed 40 grand in student loans--because I won't have to work years upon years to pay off 40 grand in loans before we have children.

Lesson
At seventeen I thought my mom was ruining my life, or at least depriving me of opportunities. At twenty one I  see the adventures had, lesson learned, dreams achieved, and life blessed by my mother's refusal. My mother didn't ruin my life: she gave me a better one.

I was slated to owe 40 grand in student loans. Now, there's 40 grand in student loans I'll never pay. Not everyone can go through college debt-free, but everyone can whittle down the amount of loans they take out.  It's not based on income level or family size, but on diligence and willingness. This isn't supposed to be a post lauding my debt-free degree, but a post showing how I lost 40 grand in loans, and how others can make their futures brighter and their loans smaller.

Tribute
My mother instilled in me the knowledge of the power of prayer and emulated a strong, vibrant faith in God. She taught me how to work, and educated me so that I would have a quick mind. God blessed me with a mother akin to the Proverbs 31 woman. He gave me the ability to learn, strength to work, and provided opportunities for me that I could have never imagined. I thank God for my mother who deprived me of the 40 grand in student loans that I'll never have to pay, and gave me priceless experiences in return, and the God who is truly the Father to the fatherless.