Student Loan Dodgers

Luke Livingston has found a novel way to repay his student loans. The Clark University graduate started a Web site in December that will trade ad space for Livingston’s student loan payment. Sponsormyloans.com will provide one month’s worth of advertising space to sponsor’s willing to pick up the $200 monthly tab for Livingston’s student loan debts. After a bit of publicity, Livingston’s student loan payment was sponsored for the month of January, and he’s hoping to carry his luck forward.

The site is not a “sympathy site” since Livingston trades ad space for cash. Not just any old ad will do, however. Livingston won’t accept obscene, offensive or “adult” oriented images on the ad space that surrounds his site. Advertisers are guaranteed an exclusive ad deal which includes all of the ad space on the site, and can change the ads as many times as they like during the month. Livingston has limited purchases to a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months per sponsor.

Livingston has a degree in communications, and works full-time, but says in his blog that he’s currently not making enough money to pay off his student loans. If his site is fully sponsored, however, he can pay off his college loans in about seven years. So far, Livingston’s site has been featured in Young Money magazine and on TheStreet.com. Livingston is hoping for more publicity and more advertising revenue from his site.

An interesting note, however. Livingston says that he can pay his student loans off in seven years, if the interest rates don’t change. It sounds to me like he could benefit from student loan consolidation.