Today I received an email with the subject: Your Student Loans Have Been Forgiven.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, but it went on to say:
Congratulations! The Biden-Harris Administration has forgiven some or all of your federal student loan(s) with MOHELA in full.
This debt relief was processed as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s one-time account adjustment because your student loan(s) have been in repayment of at least 20 or 25 years.
Well, I immediately logged into my student loan account and saw a bunch of $0.00’s.
At which point I burst into tears.
You see, I borrowed $5,000 back in the mid-80’s when I was going to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I was determined to make it as a freelance musician and I did not have much understanding or practical skills when it came to money.
An unfortunate combination.
I chose the repayment option where you start out with small payments but agree to greatly increased amounts after a certain length of time. But when that time came I wasn’t earning appreciably more — or handling my earnings any better.
So, I missed payments, got derailed by rocky life experiences (like the end of my marriage, the death of my mother, etc.), slipped into denial, and eventually landed in default.
To make a long story short, I eventually had to refinance the loan. I’m still not entirely sure how it worked, but I think that all the interest I had accumulated became part of the principle owed. At any rate, the amount I was now paying off was many, many times more than that original $5,000.
By the time I moved back from Europe in 2006, I was painfully aware of what a mess I had created through my combination of ignorance and denial. I had learned my lesson the hard way.
In fact, although I was staying meticulously current with whatever payments I could afford, and immediately communicated if there were any change in my situation, I was depressingly aware that I would most likely take this debt to my grave.
I can hardly find the words to convey what a weight off my heart and psyche it is to understand that — after almost forty years — I can let this go.
It truly feels like a miracle.
Congratulations Bhagavati! Yes, it does seem like a miracle. Perhaps you magnetized this to you because of the high-minded energy you put out being so mindful of working to pay down your debt. Well done my friend 🤗. Oh, and congratulations on all your flute practicing. 🪈 The energy you are putting out is drawing more like energy to you. This is encouraging me to keep practicing skills I want to develop in my life and putting out positive energy.💕