[kidcolin]

"You are too young and in too good a position it sounds like to shackle yourself with debt if you don't have to."

If you have $55K, chances are you aren't going to have much trouble paying that monthly loan payment. Unless of course he's got some ridiculous repayment scheme and high interest. For a lot of people my age, the interest on the loan is is under 4%, and it's easy to get better than that in a simple and safe savings account. As much as being debt free is nice, student loans are about as cheap a debt you can have, and having liquid cash is a really nice thing. I'm in a position where if anything major comes up, I can pay it and not leave myself in a jam. I'm not losing any money not paying the loan, and I keep myself 15K richer in the meantime. That's a lot more freedom in my eyes.

Anyway, this is a pretty simple issue. Look at your interest, look at your investment opportunities, assess the risk/reward, assess your own comfort/mindset of being debt free, etc etc. Myself personally, I'm not investing at a big enough clip such that my net gain of not paying off the loan is all that huge. But I feel a lot more comfortable with that 15K in my bank than not. For others, not owing anyone anything is a comforting feeling, and they'd gladly pay it right away.