Everhart: Why I’m paying off my student loans

My father was drafted into the Army in 1968. Uncle Sam pulled him out of Davidson Community College, where he was working to become the first in his family to earn a college degree. His number came up, and off he went to basic training. Years later, I asked my father if he ever considered dodging the draft, and he looked at me like I’d just sprouted a third eye in the middle of my forehead. “I couldn’t do that,” was all he said.

Four words that stuck with me.

I couldn’t do that.

Now lately, I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about the student loan crisis and people choosing to default on those loans. I owe tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. I have a bachelor’s and a master’s degree (English and creative writing, respectively), and I borrowed money to obtain both. I will, most likely, be paying these off well into my 40s and possibly beyond, but I will pay back every penny, and I will do so for three reasons.

1. I believe in paying what is owed. Call me old-fashioned. Call me self-righteous. But I, of my own free will, borrowed that money, so I am responsible for paying it back. Not my parents. Not the government. Not the bank. Not the universities I attended. Me. No one else. What’s more, I received a quality education, one that allowed me to gain employment as an English instructor at a technical college right here in South Carolina.

2. I want to set a good example for my son Harry. I write mystery novels in my spare time, so I’m a word guy, and I’ve already begun making speeches to my 2-year-old about the importance of accepting responsibility for one’s actions, of keeping one’s word, which is, essentially, what a promissory note is. My hope is that Harry will see that his mother and I work hard to pay down our student loans, so that, when the time comes, he won’t have to borrow money to obtain his education.

3. I firmly believe that hard work is good for the mind, body and soul. And it takes a lot of work to pay down student loan debt. I’ve had countless jobs that would fall under the category of dead-end work, and every single one of them taught me something important. Like persistence and usefulness, to name but two. If a job, however seemingly menial or undervalued, provides something to someone else, it is noble and, therefore, useful. Scrubbing a toilet or cooking a hamburger or bagging groceries might not be a person’s dream job, but those jobs are necessary, and they can help the people doing them develop habits and qualities that can, eventually, yield greater financial rewards. Too, those so-called unwanted jobs can help pay bills and meet other obligations.

Which brings me to a quick bit of advice.

If you’re working as hard as you can, and you still can’t quite pay your monthly student loan, try calling or emailing Sallie Mae or the bank and leveling with them. Discuss your financial situation honestly. Figure out a reasonable amount you can pay every month, and offer it to them. Try to work with them. Don’t just default on the loan.

I sympathize with all those people out there with student loan debts. The minimum payment that my wife and I make every month is more than our mortgage. Believe me, I grasp the pressure people are under, because I feel it too. But defaulting on a student loan will have a ripple effect of consequences far beyond the purely financial, and those consequences are not, in my opinion, being talked about enough.

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 8:10 AM.