[Xist]

The short answer is about 5.5 years. Whenever I had extra money I made an extra payment. The long answer is that I first graduated in 2007 with about $40,000 in loans, but did not have stable work until I joined the Army a year and five months later. I paid off my credit cards and $14,000 towards my student loans, but accrued $7,000 in interest because nobody told me about Active Duty Deferment. I came home in 2012, graduated again in 2014, but was back up to about $40,000 in debt.