The Beacon explores financial life after tuition, textbooks and meal plans
By Ame Phitwong
No more classes, assignments or busy work to tend to. No more expensive books to buy. No more rules to adhere to for being a University of Portland student. These are some worries that graduating seniors look forward to as the end of their college days near.
However, financial stability is one obstacle students continue to face long after college. Even after the worries of class work are gone, some UP alumni recall their experiences of tackling their loans after graduating.
"I absolutely loved my time at UP. I knew the first time I visited as a junior in high school that this was the school I would attend," said Gina Marie Agosta who graduated in 2005 with a bachelors degree in organizational communication and English.
While attending UP, Agosta received the President's Scholarship and the UP Grant every year. In addition, she also had the Carpenter Foundation Scholarship, the class of 1950 Endowed Scholarship, the Gayle Marie Wilkes Annual Scholarship and a communications scholarship. Agosta said her gift aid totaled $20,000 each year. She had a Federal Stafford Loan and a PLUS loan, which together totaled $10,500 a year.
Agosta participated in work study and held various jobs in different departments and areas around campus. She lived in Mehling Hall all four years. After graduation, Agosta moved back home to live with her parents in Grants Pass, Ore.
She consolidated all of her loans, leaving her with a balance of $18,900 at a 2.875 percent interest rate. She currently makes monthly payments of about $130 and said she could get a reduction in the interest rate if she continues to make her payments on time.
"I learned from my parents not to spend what you don't have, so I've never had a credit card and the large debt that a lot of college students end up with," Marie said.
Another resource Agosta used to aid in relieving debt was the advice of her friend's father, a financial advisor, who told her to save 10 percent of each annual salary. She combined that with tips from Suze Orman's book "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke" and opened a savings account and a Roth IRA for retirement.
For RJ Cervantes, figuring out what to do financially after college was very difficult.
"It is very confusing. It's difficult to get organized and nobody in my family had to pay loans before," Cervantes said. He was the first from his family to graduate from college.
Cervantes graduated in 2007 with a bachelors degree in political science. Although he had a small scholarship, he estimates he has $70,000 in loans.
While in college, Cervantes said he worked for Public Safety and Starbucks, and as a painter in the summers. He also did whatever odd jobs he could to make money. After graduation, he worked at Starbucks until he got his current job at Portland Business Alliance, where he deals with government relations. Although Cervantes declined to disclose his annual salary, he said he "makes enough to make the payments."
Cervantes said he had to figure out his loans on his own and did so by calling the companies who issued the loans and dealing with the people directly. He said he asked a lot of questions and pressed them to get the information he needed.
"You can do it; it just takes a lot of time," he said. "Consolidation can be dangerous; you might be paying more interest over time."
Although he figured out how to manage his finances, Cervantes said he still worries about his future.
"There's nobody to really back me up. I'm sure I will stumble and fall along the way, but I have a lot of faith that I can make ends meet," he said.
Despite all the trouble, Cervantes said graduating and getting his degree from UP was worth all the hassle.
"It's the best investment I ever made. And to see the look on my mother's face, that can't be taken away," he said.
Although she's done with college, Stephanie Abraham, class of 2004, is continuing her education at the University of Washington medical school and deferred her loans. Abraham took out $33,000 in private loans and $15,000 in federal loans. She had two scholarships from UP, one for $5,500 and the other for $3,000.
After graduating with a degree in biology and chemistry, she worked at Oregon Health Sciences University as a research assistant. In this job, she was only able to pay off the interest on her loans.
"I believe by the time I am done with med school and residency, they will have doubled from the original amount," she said.
Abraham will be able to find a job immediately after medical school, but for Agosta, the challenge was harder. She did not know what kind of job to look for and said Grants Pass was a small town without a lot of large companies. It took five months before she landed two jobs- one as a business manager for one nonprofit and a program manager for another nonprofit.
She still works at the nonprofit that offered her the program manager position, but was promoted to deputy director and then to executive director where she makes $37,000 annually.
Finding a job was easy for Amanda Novak, who graduated in 2007 with a degree in nursing and Spanish.
"I knew that I wanted to be an ER nurse, so I started looking for jobs during my last semester. My job was the first that I applied and interviewed for," Novak said.
Novak earns about $45,000 a year and started making monthly payments on her loans immediately after she got her job at St. Vincent Medical Center in the emergency room. While in school she received aid from a variety of sources including scholarships, grants and loans. She manages her finances by trying to save as much money as she can and believes that she works too hard to be frivolous.
"Money is a necessary evil. You need it to live, but with it comes a lot of responsibility," she said.
Novak said she feels very secure in her financial and professional future.
"I know this is where I am meant to be. I am excited to see where nursing will take me," Novak said.
Agosta lives with her parents and said she can't afford to move out until her car is paid off. She wishes she had known to save more money while in college. She recommends that students read Suze Orman's book and meet with a financial advisor after they get a job to start saving for retirement.
"I know it's the farthest thing from most college students' minds, but I think it's probably the most important thing for anyone to do, and it doesn't have to be a lot," Agosta said.
She also advises students to figure out all of their debts and pay off the one with the highest interest first. Because of her personal experience, she highly recommends consolidating loans.
Marie feels her financial outlook is good. Once she pays off her student loans, she will be debt free.
"Even though I'm very careful about saving and paying off my debts, I still have plenty of money to enjoy life. I go shopping, hang out with friends, go to concerts and take trips," she said. "I always have money in my checking account and don't feel like I'm broke all the time."
