Girl Left 110K in Debt After Graduating Nursing Faculty (Unique)

• Amaiya Camillo is a 26-year-old nurse who graduated with $110,000 debt from pupil loans, an auto mortgage and value of dwelling bills.
• Camillo started posting her debt journey on TikTok to boost consciousness of her scenario and join with others who could also be in an analogous monetary place.
• In an unique interview with PEOPLE, Camillo opens up about her debt journey and appears again at a number of the issues she might’ve finished to stop her debt from getting so unhealthy.

Amaiya Camillo at all times knew she wished to work in drugs. It was a lifelong calling that she was decided to pursue whereas in faculty. Now at 26, she has achieved her goals and works as a nurse, however with it has come $110,000 value of debt. 

Camillo is just not alone in her struggles. In September 2024, the Pew Analysis Heart reported that one in 4 adults within the U.S. below 40 years previous has pupil mortgage debt, and that quantity is just set to extend as the price of dwelling and better schooling rise.  

“Going into the medical discipline as a nurse, I knew I used to be by no means going to turn into a millionaire,” Camillo tells PEOPLE in an unique interview. “We do not do that job for the cash. It may present monetary stability and good advantages, relying on the hospital. However it wasn’t a high precedence.”

Rising up, Camillo remembers with the ability to see “two totally different sides of funds” after her dad and mom divorced when she was 13 years previous. “My mother at all times has had good credit score, however my dad had no debt and was actually good with funds,” she says. “I discovered to purchase issues for immediate gratification early on and developed that unhealthy behavior, which completely contributed to the monetary scenario I am in right now.” 

Each of her dad and mom would inform her the way to handle her funds, however since she was so younger, she didn’t absolutely perceive “the why” behind these monetary selections. “[Both of my parents] had been good [financial] position fashions, however as a result of I used to be so younger, I simply selected to study from my very own errors quite than what I noticed [from them].”  

Camillo’s debt first amassed when she began faculty in 2016 and continued to develop as she earned three levels. Her present whole debt consists of her auto mortgage, two bank cards, 5 federal pupil loans with an rate of interest between 4 and 6 p.c and 5 personal pupil loans with the best rate of interest at 16 p.c. 

“I used to be principally attempting to afford a life-style that was effectively above my pay grade,” she displays. “I used to be dwelling outdoors of my means as a result of [of the lifestyle I’m] used to.” Whereas she had some bank card debt from a two-year hole she took whereas in class, she notes that her dad was capable of assist her pay that off, however she’s since amassed extra debt — and nonetheless has an extended method to go. 

She didn’t absolutely notice simply how unhealthy her debt had turn into till after she graduated from nursing college in December 2024 and added all the pieces up. “If you end up in nursing college, you simply do what it’s important to do,” she says. “It’s a must to take out the loans and be capable of survive. It’s a must to get this diploma finished so as to afford your self a greater life-style in a while. So I simply did that and turned a blind eye.” 

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Camillo started making TikToks in July 2024, the place she opened up about her life as a nursing pupil and her each day life experiences. However she didn’t go viral till January 2025, when she posted a TikTok including up all of her debt for the primary time. 

“Since totaling up my debt, I don’t suppose I’ve truly gotten one good breath of contemporary oxygen within the final 24 hours,” she mentioned within the video. “I really feel like there’s an elephant sitting on my chest… all of this debt was racked up due to selections I made between the ages of 18 and 26.” 

“I don’t remorse any of the experiences I had between the ages of 18 and 26 or any of the issues that I’ve finished,” she continued. “However I do want I managed my funds approach higher.” 

On-line, she totals her debt at $95,000, which incorporates simply her pupil loans and numerous dwelling bills through the years, however clarified with PEOPLE that she unnoticed her automotive mortgage within the whole debt quantity shared in her movies. When she determined to open up about her expertise, Camillo says she realized that debt is a standard problem that many face, however aren’t overtly sharing it on-line. 

“Numerous these personal mortgage firms prey on younger adults on the time as a result of they know that if we’re reaching out to personal pupil mortgage firms, it is as a result of we desperately want it,” she explains. “[I didn’t post about my debt] for sympathy or for anybody to assist me with my debt. I wished to boost consciousness of the truth that the selections you make early on in your life 100% have an effect on you sooner or later.” 

As she’s shared her journey on-line, a lot of the suggestions she’s acquired has been constructive and allowed her to really feel much less alone in her personal journey. “It was good to have the ability to attain out to sure individuals who had been offering recommendation on the way to refinance loans,” she says. “I used to be capable of get a variety of data that I essentially would not have discovered if I stayed quiet and tried to determine it out alone.” 

Now with 400,000 followers on TikTok, Camillo has additionally been capable of faucet into the creator fund as a further means to pay her debt off, alongside along with her common wage from her nursing job. She by no means thought it might be doable to have such a large attain till she began posting extra about her debt and expertise as a nurse, however now she’s been capable of “construct a group” on-line. 

Even with the additional earnings, Camillo doesn’t have plans to step away from nursing in pursuit of a full-time creator position. For her, the extra earnings is a bonus as she pays her debt down along with her major earnings from nursing. 

“I’m an enormous proponent of at all times having a backup plan and maintaining your full-time job first, then having the posh of social media so as to add to your earnings,” she explains. “That approach, you by no means get right into a scenario the place there is perhaps a ban and individuals are freaking out as a result of they [rely solely on] social media.”  

In her debt journey, Camillo is working to refinance her personal pupil loans and produce down her bank card utilization. She’s managed to repay one bank card and is working in direction of paying off the opposite within the meantime. With the plan she’s created with the assistance of her household and boyfriend — who works as a monetary advisor — Camillo estimates she is going to probably pay all of her debt off by 2032. 

She provides that she doesn’t remorse any of the alternatives she made about her academic pursuits, however needs she had constructed higher spending habits and labored extra to chip away at her debt whereas she was in class. She realizes now that if she had made smaller modifications originally, her debt would’ve most likely been so much much less as soon as she graduated.

“Debt sucks, but when you are able to do what you might want to scale back that quantity, you’ll pull out on the finish of the day,” she says. “I like to recommend that folks sit down and perceive how they should stay to attenuate the quantity of debt they’re pulling out for his or her schooling earlier than they pull out these pupil loans. Additionally, pay again your pupil loans the minute they disperse. Ship what you’ll be able to afford to that pupil mortgage each single month in order that you do not stroll out with greater than you borrowed.”