pay off my student loans

A quick calculation on post-its at work…

I’m not sure if I would ever do this, but if I diverted all my savings to paying off my student loans (nothing to retirement, nothing to my emergency fund, etc.) I would have enough money to pay of the loans off within a year (11 months).

This assumes: I pay off the loans all at once at the end of the 11 months, I continue to save money at my current rate, I don’t move or incur any other major expense, I don’t get change jobs or receive a raise at work, and it factors in the tax impact of not contributing to my 401(k).

I owe about $18k, down from the original $21k. I have been paying it back for just under 2 years. It is frustrating because I should have known better – I could have gone to a state college and just did with a B.S. degree and maybe owed nothing, but I went to a private college and did an M.S. I still make the same amount of money as I would have with a bachelor’s degree. I can’t get too down on myself, though, because I was so young when I made these decisions. I really did have no way of knowing.

I am currently saving money, but I don’t know how much should go to retirement/student loans/other savings. I don’t have any consumer debt and I do have an emergency fund, so it’s hard to find a clear-cut answer.

I have 8 years left, but I’d LOVE to do this in 5 instead. With this economy, I am more worried about building up savings in case I lose my job than about making more than the required payments on my loans. (I am thankful that I can make these without too much struggling and have not missed a payment yet).