How some grads are crushing their student debt during the pandemic

Three years ago, Godwin Scott graduated from Carleton University with about $120,000 in student debt.

Today, he's debt free.

"I'll be honest, it did not hit me that night,"said Scott, 26, who made his final student loan paymentlast October, in the middle of the pandemic."I still feel odd knowing that I don't owe somebody."

Scott is one of severalpost-secondary studentswho spoke to CBC Ottawa in 2017 about what they owed and how it wasaffecting their lives. We followed up to see where they are now, and how they're paying the rest of their debt off.

Scott, an international student at the time, had debt tied to an Indian bank that was charging about 13 per cent interest.He said he leaned on advice fromfinancial expertsand used Canada's tuition tax credit to defer taxes for a few years, but his best strategy was to get his overseas loan paid down as quickly as possible.

"When I graduated, I had a conversation with my friends [and family]. I asked them to sort ofloan me maybe a couple thousanddollars that I could pay them back in a couple months," explained Scott, who said a handful of people trusted him and loaned him money at zero interest.

"[There] was an element of faith involved," he said.

Scott used the approximately$50,000 he borrowed from family and friends to slash his bank loan by nearly half. He lived frugally in the basement of a pastor's home where he paid$500 per month in rent, allowing him to allocateabout 80 per cent of his paychequeto his student loans.

As time went by, he was able to reduce the portion of his income earmarked for debt repayment to about 60 per cent.

"One thing I do want to share with the students coming into Canada is ... there's a responsibility on you to pay back what you borrowed ... quickly," he said. "Because that's the best way to freedom, financially."

Cracking down on credit debt

Troy Curtis graduated from Carleton in the summer of 2019 with about $17,000 in debt through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) and a credit line. He also had thousands of dollars incredit card debt for living expenses during school.

Curtis, 25, who's now a freelance digital marketing consultant and photographer, has about $10,000 left to pay.

"After I graduated, the biggest thing for me ... was making sure I found a job right away," he said. Eventually, Curtis found a position with a non-profit, and freelanced as agraphic designer and wedding photographer on the side.

"That's when I was able to start reallyeach month cracking down on my credit card debt first," he said. It took a year and a half to pay downthe card.

During the pandemic, Curtis's work-from-home situation remained static,but he found himself with more contracts due to greater demand for virtual conferences and other projects. He was making bigger dents in his debt and saving for the future, perhaps for a house, so he approached a financial adviser.

Curtis says he's now optimistic abouthis financial future.

"[I feel] more comfortable," he said. "$10,000still left in debt is a lot,but it's definitely manageable. I can understand how to pay it back."

Goodbye to $30K in 2.5 years

Lauren Paulson, 27, graduated in December2018 from Algonquin College with about $50,000 in debt more than half of it through OSAP and the rest througha line of credit withher bank.

Less than three years in, the X-ray technologist with CHEO has crushed about $30,000 of it,"which I'm pretty happy with," Paulson said.

Paulson saidshe's "extremely fortunate" to have found a job right after school.She said her strategy centredlargely on keeping her expenses down, and she's thankful her partner was able to purchase a house, a "huge factor" in her being able to pay off her debt so quickly.

"If Iwas in that situation putting so much of my paycheque each month toward rent, there's no way I would be able to have paidoff this much debtso far," she said. "Luck was on my sidein that sense."

Paulson alsotargeted her line of credit, which has a higher interest rate. Now, she's turned her focustoward OSAP, which has given her an interest-freegrace period during the pandemic.

"I am super fortunate," she said. "I've never been super strong financially, or very smart with my finances, I would say.There's a reason I wound up with $50,000 in debt."