NJ college graduate pays off $70K in student loans by starting used book business

NJ college graduate pays off $70K in student loans by starting used book business

Ohio native pays off $48K in student loans in 14 months 00:00

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While President Biden has floated the idea of canceling “some” student loan debt — an idea both GOP and Democrat lawmakers alike are alarmed by, saying it would cost the government too much money and add to inflation — some college graduates with heavy debt loans aren’t waiting around for someone or something to bail them out.

They’re pushing forward, doing what’s right — and figuring out a way to pay off their own debt.

And for one Rutgers University graduate, that involved a novel idea.

New Jersey native Pathik Oza graduated in 2018 with a B.A. from Rutgers University — he studied psychology and biology — with $70,000 in student loans, he told Fox News Digital in an interview.

OHIO COUPLE, PARENTS OF TWO, GET MASSIVE STUDENT LOAN DEBT BEHIND THEM

And while Oza began pursuing another degree ahead of his plan to attend medical school, he also found a passion for rehoming used and discarded books.

“I was walking around one day during the summer, and I saw books lying there, and I thought there would be an opportunity,” he said. O3 Books founder Pathik Oza of North Brunswick, N.J., during a recent Zoom interview with Fox News Digital about paying down his student debt. “I just started this volunteer work where I would collect unwanted books,” he said. (Fox News Digital)

“Why would books be thrown away? They could be redistributed to someone who may need them. So I just started this volunteer work where I would collect unwanted books,” he told Fox News Digital.

What began as a kind gesture and a chance to give back to local libraries, schools, shelters and children’s hospitals turned into a sparkling new business opportunity.

An increasing number of requests for books and a high demand for his services became something far too large for just Oza and his Toyota RAV4 to handle. Pathik Oza made the decision to turn reselling books into a profitable business. So Oza made the decision to turn reselling books into a business. He started off by opening an Amazon account.

He called his business O3 Books. FLORIDA-BASED MOM PAYS OFF $40K IN STUDENT DEBT AFTER LIVING ‘PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK’ “The profit would keep coming in, and it kept growing,” he said. “[In about] a month or so, I had around 1,000 to 2,000 books in Amazon warehouses. So it was pretty cool to see the growth in the business.”Oza continued to expand by launching a website and opening an Etsy shop, which “blew up” while the world was locked down during the coronavirus pandemic . O3 Books’ original dust jacket designs for J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” book series are shown here. (Pathik Oza/O3 Books) He also found that there was especially high demand for his décor book sets and redesigned dust jackets; he moved in that direction to help spruce up the backgrounds of work-from-home Zoom meetings.By the end of 2020, Oza had made $115,000 from his side business — which covered his student loans in full, and then some. Oza learned “a lot about finances,” he said, by paying off his loans and by fueling his own small business at the same time. Oza said he learned “a lot about finances” by paying off his loans and by fueling his own business at the same time. OHIO WRITER PAID OFF $48K IN STUDENT LOANS IN 14 MONTHS: IT WAS ‘AN ADVENTURE’ Today, the 25-year-old said he would feel “more comfortable” taking on different forms of borrowing in the future based on the financial knowledge he’s accumulated.The success of O3 Books is now paying for Oza’s second degree in full, eliminating the burden of needing to take out another loan. Pathik Oza of N.J. started O3 Books — and used the money he made from his new business to completely pay off his student loan debt. (Pathik Oza)The small business owner has since switched career paths.He’s been pursuing a degree in computer science, although the thought of hefty med school loans possibly in his future gave him an extra boost to take care of debt he already had.”I felt it was urgent to pay those off,” he said. HOW TO DECIDE WHICH STUDENT LOANS TO PAY OFF FIRST For other students with debt who are looking for a way to pay down their loans, Oza said weighing the option of starting a small business is a good idea. He especially recommended taking advantage of online marketplaces like Amazon […]

source NJ college graduate pays off $70K in student loans by starting used book business

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