I would ask "what are you studying" before doling out that advice. It may make more sense to get to his true earning potential more quickly than "painting houses" for a year to pay off a small amount of debt.

I would also suggest that not many, if any of the people I know "saved" money when they were 21. OftenBen, put together a plan and stick with it. If you need to borrow money for 2 more years, do it responsibly and with a plan. Then, you may need to take 4 years to pay that off. Then, voila you are 26 years old and with zero debt. Dude, that's a good place to be. Now you can start saving aggressively, because ideally your earning potential is starting to rise. By the time you are 30 you can take some of the money you saved and invest it responsibly (but slightly more aggressively). -There are a number of ways to do so.

It's smart of you to be concerned about your debt, you should be. But you shouldn't be "saving" right now. You have nothing to save. These are your learning years, they are expensive. Your payback years follow, then your earning years, then your investing years then your retirement years then your singularity download your consciousness in to an avatar years. -best save for that one.

Good luck.