Convent Tells Woman She Can't Become Nun Until Student Loans Are Paid Off

A New York woman who wants to become a nun has been told she’ll have to wait to take her vows until she pays off her student loans.

Alida Taylor, 28, told New York’s CBS2 that her desire to become a nun happened after she graduated from the University of Louisiana, moved to New York and took a job with a Broadway costume designer.

“When I moved to the city, I had all these desires. I wanted to have a career, a family and marriage, but your heart begins to shift,” she told CBS2.

Alida was hoping to join the Sisters of Life Convent on the city’s Upper West Side, but was told she has to pay off her student debt first.

“That financial debt, having that be resolved allows her to freely enter into her vocation,” Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei of the Sisters of Life told CBS2.

Alida had planned to pay off her student loans over the next 10 years. Now, she’s set up a Go Fund Me page to help pay off the $18,000 in time to make the convent’s September deadline.

Why is the convent so strict about the debt? A job outside the convent is not an option, and the convent does not provide a salary or stipend for nuns.

“Religious life is a full-time job, so to speak, so she wouldn’t be able to work and enter into religious life,” Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei told CBS2.

Dealing With Student Loan Debt

If your student loans are standing in the way of you achieving your personal or financial goals, you can consider ways to pay off your student loans early, or you can see if you qualify for student loan forgiveness.

If you’ve fallen behind on student loan payments, keep in mind that they could have a direct impact on your credit scores. You can do serious damage to your credit, particularly if your loans go into default. To see how your payment history is impacting your credit, you can check your two free credit scores, updated every 14 days, on Credit.com.