SoFi Blog

It’s that time of year again, when the leaves change, the weather turns a bit colder and summer vacation seems like a distant memory. And if you graduated from college or an advanced degree program last spring, your student loan vacation is over, too.

In 2015, SoFi member Anthony Hartzog’s loans were in default. In 2017, he paid off $51,000 of $113,000 in debt. And this year, he and his wife Jhanilka Hartzog have already paid off $42,000 in debt with plans to wipe out the last $20,000 of their personal debt by end of year.

College graduates today are sharing a $1.5 trillion loan burden —the second highest debt amount in the nation after home mortgages. And this debt has the potential to lead to things like default, credit card debt, and potentially underemployment if grads can’t immediately find a job in their degree field.

Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with home improvement platform Kukun (pronounced “cocoon”) to offer the homeowners amongst you advanced new tools to help you gain a greater understanding of how much your home improvement project could cost and how it can affect the resale value of your home.

With Kukun and SoFi’s Home Improvement Cost Calculator, you can estimate the cost of over 28 project types, ranging in price from $10,000 up to $300,000, including renovations and expansions so you can accurately estimate your house renovation costs or remodeling costs.

In general, high school students are encouraged to apply to colleges during the summer before their senior year. This creates a doable timeline, one that allows them to choose the best college fit for their needs. People who are going back to school after time in the workforce generally follow the same guidelines—applying to school about 10 to 15 months prior to their targeted start date.

But how many colleges does it make sense to apply to? The Princeton Review recommends: two target schools, two reach schools, and two safety schools. Selecting a thoughtful balance of schools generally leads to less stress throughout the application process, especially when compared to students who apply to dozens of universities, expecting responses from all.

By carefully curating a list of schools, students are generally left with options within their financial reach and a little less anxiety. Although no one application strategy applies to every single student, hopefully this list is a good starting point.

There’s an old rumor floating around out there about how much to spend on an engagement ring, and it goes like this: When you’re ready to propose, you should spend the equivalent of two months’ gross salary on the engagement ring.

Two months? That’s a lot of money.

Well, we have good news: it’s simply not true. The two-month “standard” holds no weight or authority from any expert. In fact, it’s nothing more than an old marketing campaign that fed its way into the lexicon via catchy slogans and peer pressure. What’s more, the digital age has allowed us to grow into savvy shoppers who understand that making a large purchase based on hearsay isn’t the way to go.