<prompt> Human: Hello PF,As of today, I have officially brought my undergraduate student loan debt balance to ZERO It took 4 years, 7 months, and 12 days to get to this point. I wanted to post here to help anyone who is going to be taking on a similarly large amount of debt or is currently facing a large number like I was. I hope it helps. Tip 1 Know what youre getting into before you take on the debt.When I was selecting where to attend college, the financial side was always on my mind. At the age of 18, I didnt quite understand what debt really meant. Honestly, I didnt really know what having to pay any bills at all meant. In high school, I worked jobs that let me pay for fun or easy things like going to the movies, gas money, or improving my wardrobe. I didnt know what living on my own was going to mean financially and didnt have an idea of what life after college would look like. Regardless, I always knew from the start that any money used to pay for college was on me to pay back. My parents very nicely offered to supplement my federal loans with Parent Plus loans, but all of that money was my responsibility to repay. It is key for you to make sure you understand who is going to be paying for what if others are involved in your college decision. I also knew that I wanted to go to a pricier school. I ended up deciding on Penn State which, while a state school, comes with a big price tag. Luckily, I was able to talk about the cost of Penn State with my older siblings who also went there. I came to a rough estimate of 20,000ish a year. It was a little more expensive my first two years, and cheaper in the last two when scholarships came through. All told, I knew I was committing to about 80,000 if I sent in my enrollment papers. Even though I didnt have a great grasp on how big that amount actually was, I knew it was a lot.Tip 2 Dont expect magic to happen. Youre paying for it, so plan for it.Even though it felt like money just magically appeared into my bank account at the beginning of each semester, I knew I was going to need a non-magical way to pay that all back eventually. So I started from Day 1 to set myself up for success. I was interested in the humanities in high school, loved History and English, but I didnt know any History or English majors that were making decent salaries. I had to look elsewhere. On the advice of my sister, I enrolled in a beginning course for a relatively new college at Penn State, called Information Sciences and Technology, in my first semester. I had no previous tech experience, nor did I really know what IST was about. I lucked out, though, and had such a great time in that class that I thought I can do this. And I did. I threw myself into networking, coding, databases, project management, organizational alignment, etc. and learned it all with no prior experience. I forced myself into being passionate about a subject that I never even thought about before college. Meanwhile, I made sure to still do what I was interested in, and added a second major, Political Science, to my plan. I worked with my advisors from the beginning to figure out how to get it done in four years, and I then did.Tip 3 Make your loans your Number One Priority.Looking for a job during senior year was fun. I had worked hard throughout college, so I was in a good position with a high GPA, internship experiences, and a different and interesting background Poli Sci too? Thats cool. Why?. I also admit to having the advantage of being a woman in a male-dominated field. In 2010, companies were and I would bet, still are pushing for diversity in their hiring practices. They couldnt say that being a woman was advantageous for me, but I knew it was. People who are successful take advantage of opportunities presented to them. I cant say whether its fair or not that I got a leg up on the competition for being a female, but it wasnt something I was going to work against. I interviewed with at least ten companies. I had in-hand offers from four. And, at the end of the day, I went with the highest paying offer. Career growth opportunities, job satisfaction, location, etc. are certainly all factors in making an employment decision, but I knew those loan bills were coming in, and I made paying them back my number one priority. So I took the paycheck. Tip 4 Theres nothing more significantimpactful to paying back debt than your income.To have money left over at the end of the month, you need to make more than you spent. The only ways to accomplish this are to spend less or make more. I absolutely made every day choices to lower my overall spending, from never having cable to taking the subway instead of a cab. I made sure that a lot of my little financial decisions were sound. None of that, though, compares to just having a whopping paycheck come in each month. The best thing you can do for your financial goals is to have an income to support them. It helped me to not feel like I was pinching pennies all the time. Tip 5 Current salary can dictate future salary always look for a better opportunity.Related, I have found in my own experience, that my starting salary influenced all my future salaries significantly. I worked for two years at a big consulting firm, and got a raise each year. Using that as my benchmark, I was able to be picky, but open, to new job opportunities. For a while, any reasonable-sounding job sent my way via LinkedIn, I interviewed for. Once I found a company through a networking connection that was very compatible with my skill set, I was able to make the move to a new and better job, with a salary jump. I can tell you honestly, I could have a very similar job as I do right now for half of what Im making now. In business, no matter what people say, a salary is used as an indicator of performance, and people will pay for what they perceive as value. I also made sure to ask for more. Remember, they want to get you for as little they can, but when they like you and want you, companies will give you more than you think they would. I always put out what I considered to be unreasonable requests, and yet, I never got We dont want you anymore. Never mind. Its always, Well, heres where we can meet you on that request.Tip 6 You are not your friends.Unfortunately, you didnt get the easy button for life. Your parents didnt pay your way through college, but all your friends parents did for them. UNFAIR. Or, your friends are always going to expensive dinners and eating out for lunch and just bought a new Ford Focus, and you want to too! You need to tell yourself I am not them. I dont have those luxuries. I dont have a winning lotto ticket. I, of course, dealt and still deal with that. Did I like driving the 2000 Dodge Intrepid with a broken seat, peeling paint, and a horrible screeching noise every time I locked the doors? Nope, but I drove it until it died. Then I bought a very sensible 2007 Honda Civic and plan on keeping that for ten more years. My friends can enjoy their awesome Mustangs and Focuses, and I will get along with my little economic car. I will be enjoying my new debt-free life. And thats important to me. Im not my friends so we dont have the same goals. I dont bother comparing my life to theirs. And finally,Tip 7 Always ask yourself: Do I want this more so much that I am willing to delay my future goals of: XXXI have financial goals. They included: APaying off student loan debtBAffording a nice apartmentCOwning a homeDPaying for my future childrens collegeERetiring without financial worriesThese are things that are important to me in my financial life. Times when I was trying to decide whether to make a purchase that didnt fit my budget, I would try to ask myself if it was worth it to delay my timeline on those items. That would help me to put down those beautiful leather boots that I knew I would wear all the time and would definitely get a great value for. It would also empower me to say yes sometimes. Ive now traveled to Europe: Italy, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic, Norway. I feel ok about delaying my future home buying in order to experience something as amazing as travel. By thinking of your smaller financial decisions in context of those larger ones, it helps you to remember your priorities and logically evaluate whether its worth it to delay them. I hope this was helpful for some people who are working through their own pile of debt. Just remember, you will pay it off. Its up to you on how fast you can accomplish it. TL;DR: If you sign up for a big bill, plan to pay it back, take advantage of opportunities, be your own advocate, dont compare yourself to others, and remember your priorities.  <response>: Tip 6: This. So many Americans either complain or try to keep up by living beyond their means. Neither are happy responses.Life isnt fair. And if youre reading this, remember, your life is better than 95 of all the humans who ever lived. 