Help Interpreting "Savings Potential"
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:58 pm
The husband and I are going into international teaching, but I have a big financial question that will determine our timescale. FYI, Hubby teaches Science (3 years experience), and I teach Primary/Library/English (1 year Primary exp., 2.5 years as an Assistant Librarian). No dependents.
We're worried about paying off our student loans in a timely manner while working at an IS. I imagine we'll have to spend a few years at a less-desirable school because we're inexperienced. So what I'd like to know is... when people discuss the savings potential of a certain school, what's the context for that number?
At the risk of providing too much personal information, here's our situation:
If we stay where we are for two more school years (12/13 and 13/14), Hubby gets $17,500 of his student loans forgiven by the US government. Together, we make about $65,000 a year, and we're able to put my entire salary (and then some) toward debt repayment. As you might have guessed, the cost of living here is pretty low (we rent a 750 sq. ft. apartment for $500/month), and we live conservatively. So we could be debt-free by the end of the 13/14 school year.
The problem is that I'm not feeling particularly patient. I really don't like our current town. I want to stop dealing with all the crap that goes on in American public schools. If we were to leave earlier, for the 13/14 school year, would we be shooting ourselves in the foot? (Feet?) Is it worth staying here for one more unhappy year to pay off our loans (and to let me gain another year of experience)? Or is the savings potential at an IS, combined with our penny-pinching habits, enough to offset the government loan forgiveness?
What do you think?
We're worried about paying off our student loans in a timely manner while working at an IS. I imagine we'll have to spend a few years at a less-desirable school because we're inexperienced. So what I'd like to know is... when people discuss the savings potential of a certain school, what's the context for that number?
At the risk of providing too much personal information, here's our situation:
If we stay where we are for two more school years (12/13 and 13/14), Hubby gets $17,500 of his student loans forgiven by the US government. Together, we make about $65,000 a year, and we're able to put my entire salary (and then some) toward debt repayment. As you might have guessed, the cost of living here is pretty low (we rent a 750 sq. ft. apartment for $500/month), and we live conservatively. So we could be debt-free by the end of the 13/14 school year.
The problem is that I'm not feeling particularly patient. I really don't like our current town. I want to stop dealing with all the crap that goes on in American public schools. If we were to leave earlier, for the 13/14 school year, would we be shooting ourselves in the foot? (Feet?) Is it worth staying here for one more unhappy year to pay off our loans (and to let me gain another year of experience)? Or is the savings potential at an IS, combined with our penny-pinching habits, enough to offset the government loan forgiveness?
What do you think?