Credible takeaways
- A shared financial vision made student loan repayment a top priority right after graduation.
- They embraced a minimalist “rice and beans” lifestyle to cut expenses and put every extra dollar toward debt.
- Building an emergency fund provided emotional relief and a sense of financial control during uncertain times.
- Becoming debt-free opened the door to long-term goals like entrepreneurship, homeownership, and a debt-averse lifestyle.
When Dr. Andrea Mata graduated with her doctorate in clinical child psychology, she also left school with something less exciting: $46,000 in student loans. Rather than have that debt hanging over their heads, Andrea and her husband Jim committed themselves to paying it off as fast as possible. They lived simply and kept their expenses low to hit their debt repayment goals. All that hard work paid off when Andrea paid off the full amount only six months after graduating.
Since becoming debt-free, Andrea has built a career as a professor, clinical child psychologist, entrepreneur, and author. For her, the financial freedom of being debt-free was well worth the sacrifices it took to get there. Here's more on Andrea's student debt success story and her advice for couples and individuals looking to accomplish the same.
Graduating with $46,000 in student loans
Andrea earned her undergraduate degree from Valparaiso University before completing her doctorate in clinical child psychology at Kent State University. Along the way, she borrowed $46,000 in federal student loans, including a $5,000 Perkins Loan.
Andrea's loan payments were deferred while she was in school, but a gift from her future husband Jim got her thinking seriously about how to pay them off.
“My husband, shortly after he proposed, handed me a copy of Dave Ramsey's 'Total Money Makeover' book,” says Andrea. “During my fifth year of grad school, I really started to try to implement Dave's baby steps.”
Ramsey's seven baby steps are an approach to personal finance that begins with saving $1,000 in a starter emergency fund before paying off all your debt (besides a mortgage). After completing the first step, Andrea focused on the second: conquering her student loans.
“My husband and I didn't want to have any debt,” says Andrea. “We decided we were going to completely pay the loans off.”
Saving and sacrificing to pay off debt
After Andrea graduated, she found a job as a professor, and her husband was working as a mechanical engineer. They took advantage of her loans' six-month grace period to save aggressively.
“We said, 'We're just going to save all the money that we possibly can,'” recalls Andrea. “'We're going to live on rice and beans.'”
A “rice and beans” lifestyle is another one of Ramsey's principles. It means cutting expenses to the bare essentials so you can throw every extra dollar at your debt. Andrea and Jim followed this to a T.
“We loved going out for pizza on Fridays, but we switched to Jack's frozen pizzas instead,” she says. “They were $3 and good enough to get us through.”
They also held off on replacing their old cars. Andrea drove a 2003 Cavalier, and Jim, who's 6-foot-6, squeezed into a Mitsubishi Galant.
“We could have upgraded and had car payments and just kept my student loans around for 20 years,” says Andrea. “But we didn't want that. We wanted to live a different lifestyle.”
All these efforts worked, as Andrea paid off her student loans in full in March 2013, only six months after graduating with her doctorate.
Taking on student loan debt together
Andrea and her husband worked together to pay off her student loan debt. After the couple got married, they viewed the debt as a joint responsibility to tackle as a team.
“Even though Jim came into the marriage with zero debt, he never made me feel less than or guilty about my debt,” says Andrea. “He said, we're getting married, this is going to be our debt and now we're going to pay it off as quickly as we possibly can.”
In her career as a psychologist, Andrea has worked with other couples to help them get on the same page financially and have a better relationship because of it.
“Finances are one of the top issues that couples face, but I think they're the most practical to address,” she says. “There are so many systems out there to help you budget and get out of debt.”
Seeking financial security
Along with her husband and Dave Ramsey, Andrea's upbringing also motivated her to get out of debt. Her dad immigrated from Mexico and supported a family of six on a modest income.
“I came from not a lot of money, and I just wanted to know what it was like to be financially secure,” says Andrea.
Andrea also felt the anxiety of limited income throughout graduate school, saying, “I never knew whether or not I was going to have enough money in the bank to cover the bills that I had.”
Saving an emergency fund in graduate school was the first time Andrea felt more in control of her finances.
“All of a sudden, my tire blew out,” she remembers. “But then I just went to the tire shop and they replaced it. It was so much less stressful because I had that emergency fund.”
Life after student loan debt
Without the burden of $46,000 in student loans, Andrea could focus on building her career. She was a professor for nearly a decade before working in private practice as a clinical child psychologist.
She's also an entrepreneur and founded BrightSpot Families, where she provides families with coaching and other resources. Andrea hosts a podcast, gives talks and workshops on Gen Z mental health, and wrote a book on parenting.
As for her finances, Andrea continues to avoid debt whenever possible. She and her husband eventually upgraded their cars, but they paid for them in cash, avoiding car loans. The only debt they now carry is a mortgage, which they used to buy their dream home outside Toledo, Ohio.
How to pay off your student loans faster
If you're eager to shed your student debt, here are some strategies to pay it off faster:
- Follow a proven strategy: Andrea swears by Dave Ramsey's baby steps, which encourage you to save a small emergency fund and then focus on paying off debt. Ramsey suggests using the debt snowball method, which involves targeting the smallest loans first. Alternatively, you could use the debt avalanche, prioritizing loans with the highest interest rate.
- Cut down your cost of living: Look for areas where you can spend less so you have more money to throw at your student loan debt. From living with roommates to using public transportation to cooking all your meals at home, you may save a significant amount to put toward your debt.
- Increase your income: If you can boost your income while keeping spending low, you'll have more room in your budget for debt repayment. Consider whether you can pursue a promotion at work, change careers, or work a side hustle to increase your earnings.
- Explore refinancing: If you have a solid credit score, refinancing your student loans may get you a lower interest rate and reduced monthly payment. Remember that refinancing federal loans means forfeiting federal repayment plans and forgiveness programs.
- Work as a team: If you're in a committed relationship, discuss how you want to approach debt and share financial challenges and goals.
Finally, don't let emotions stand in the way of your debt payoff goals.
“Money is extremely emotional, and a lot of the time our emotions lie to us,” says Andrea. “Sitting down and doing a monthly zero-based budget takes the emotions out of it.”
Regularly checking in with your budget and debt may take discipline, but Andrea says it's worth it.
“The freedom that comes with being completely debt-free, other than your mortgage, is just so amazing.”
