I graduated with $85,000 in student loan debt at 26 and it took me 7 years to pay it all off. Here's the full timeline.

Years 1-2: Income-driven repayment while building an emergency fund and contributing to the 401k match. Debt barely moved. Psychologically rough.

Year 3: Got a $12k raise. Redirected 80% of the increase directly to loans. Paid off two smaller loans completely using the snowball.

Years 4-5: Refinanced the remaining balance from 6.8% to 4.9% through a private lender. Switched to avalanche method. Real progress started.

Year 6-7: One large balance remaining. Attacked it with all available cash flow. Done.

Total interest paid: approximately $31,000. If I'd only made minimum payments, it would have been $56,000. The seven years of focused payoff saved $25,000 in interest.