Forget taking home golden statues, nabbing the role of the lifetime, and being added to arbitrary “World’s Most Beautiful People” lists. If you're an actor, these are all great benchmarks sure, but the real question is: Are those student loans paid off?
During a cozy sit-down on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Thursday night, actress Gina Rodriguez talked about many things: filming Jane The Virgin, being the new Carmen Sandiego, interviewing Barack Obama (and the subsequent backlash) etc.
After host Stephen Colbert mentioned her “formal acting education” at the NYU Tisch School, her eyes lit up the room when she admitted that she’d just paid off her student loans.“I just paid it off! Yes!” she said.
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“Wait a sec…you just paid it off?” said a shocked Colbert. Rodriguez then explained that she’s 32 and she graduated when she was 21 —you do that math.
“So…a TV star with a hit show took 11 years to pay off her student loans,” said Colbert.
Rodriguez also added that she paid off her student debt on the same day she was nominated for her second Golden Globe for Jane The Virgin. “I didn’t win the Golden Globe, but…” she trailed off. Honestly, the actress sounded more affected by hitting the financial milestone than the Golden Globe nom and we can’t blame her.
“Yeah dude...I just paid it off,” she revealed. “College education is so expensive, but it’s so necessary. I would never change it for the world but yes, it took me way too long.”
It was a refreshing moment and also a much-needed reminder that celebrities suffer the same burdens as everyone else.
From Nicki Minaj helping anonymous students with college debt via Twitter to Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Schwartz lamenting about his student loans on the show, it’s clear, student loan debt affects us all.