Nobody taught you how money works. That wasn't an accident — somebody profits when you don't know.
Nine sessions. No jargon. Just the arithmetic nobody showed you.
That's what the average student loan costs — of what you borrowed.
Borrow $55,000 at 8.94% over 10 years and you hand back $83,392. Nobody shows you that number before you sign, because the arithmetic is not in anyone's interest but yours.
Education Data Initiative · verified 2026-09-12 · recalculated on this page, not typed into a slide
Nine sessions, in the order the decisions actually arrive.
Credit comes first because it silently prices everything after it. Retirement comes last because by then you can see what six years of waiting costs.
Every figure is pulled live and shows its source. Every calculator in the lessons is on this site, free, for you to run your own situation through.
- 01The number that prices your lifeWhat a credit score actually is, the five factors behind it, and the same card, car and house priced for two different people.
- 02The most expensive money you can borrowRevolving interest, minimum payments, and why $1,000 at 24% takes five years and change to clear if you pay what they ask.
- 03Getting outAvalanche versus snowball, what extra payments really do to a schedule, and the order to attack in.
- 04Where it all goesBuilding a real budget from real local numbers, and finding the hourly wage it actually takes to cover your life.
- 05The eighth wonderTwo people, the same monthly amount, six years apart. The gap at 65 is the whole argument for starting now.
- …Four more — housing, taxes, and the capstone
Run your own numbers
Loans, compounding, rent versus own, and the debt-to-income test lenders actually run. Free, no sign-in.
Ten people, one salary
Ten 22-year-olds earning the same $60,000, one flaw each. Guess who ends up where, then see the arithmetic.
What it costs to exist
Your city, your rent, your groceries — and the hourly wage it actually takes to cover them.