For an undergraduate degree. Includes living expenses as well.
For an undergraduate degree. Includes living expenses as well.
YES
Depends, what are your prospects when you graduate?
I have about 50k and have a job that pays a decent amount more than that. I live fairly comfortably. My minimum payments are about 500 a month but I try to pay about 700-800 a month.
Average loans for undergrad are about 20k, so yes. Make sure you look at the minimum payment, because you'll be living paycheck to paycheck in some jobs with that much debt.
Seriously??? wrote:
You're asking if $60,000 is alot of money? If you're that stupid, you shouldn't be going to college.
No, he's asking if it's a large amount to pay off.
If he's going to get a degree in ChemE and work for a petroleum company starting at $75K, it's no big deal. If he's going to need grad school to have reasonable job prospects and the debt is going to keep piling up, it's prodigious.
Student Loan Holder wrote:
Depends, what are your prospects when you graduate?
This. You should think of a student loan the same way you'd think of a business loan. You are debt financing the purchase of a future revenue stream. The question isn't "is $X too much?" The question is "does the expected revenue justify the cost?"
Drop in the bucket...try 300k!
Mustard wrote:
For an undergraduate degree. Includes living expenses as well.
I wish I only had $60,000 to pay off. I'm in for about $80,000 after 4 years at a at a liberal arts school that I regretted choosing in my junior year. Looking back 2 years now that I'm out in the real world I guess it's not so bad and I'm doing quite well compared to friends that I graduated with and friends from high school.
I'm 24 making about $37,000/year not including benefits. I also have a company vehicle which keeps my expenses pretty low. I spend about $600 a month in student loans, but because I don't have a personal vehicle I'm not suffering. If you budget and plan accordingly you can still have an enjoyable life while paying down the heap of debt.
And that's why following your dreams blindly is a recipe for diaster.
There should be qualifications for education loans like mortgages or car loans. If you pick x degree and projected income is less then say 80% of total loan cost you don't get the loan. Go to a community college if you want to be a basket weaver. I have friends that have $200k+ student loans and make $30k a year in social work. Freaking genius.
I <3 Tacos wrote:
I have friends that have $200k+ student loans and make $30k a year in social work. Freaking genius.
As long as they're making their loan payments, I'm not sure why anyone should care. This certainly isn't the choice I'd make, but it's really none of my business if someone else wants to live in poverty.
Lemon Harangue wrote:
Mustard wrote:For an undergraduate degree. Includes living expenses as well.
I wish I only had $60,000 to pay off. I'm in for about $80,000 after 4 years at a at a liberal arts school that I regretted choosing in my junior year. Looking back 2 years now that I'm out in the real world I guess it's not so bad and I'm doing quite well compared to friends that I graduated with and friends from high school.
I'm 24 making about $37,000/year not including benefits. I also have a company vehicle which keeps my expenses pretty low. I spend about $600 a month in student loans, but because I don't have a personal vehicle I'm not suffering. If you budget and plan accordingly you can still have an enjoyable life while paying down the heap of debt.
Good for you. The best lesson you have received for that debt is the discipline of paying it off.
I wish you well.
University debt is a pain in the ass, and not worth it. But apparently you all think you have to do it.
asdfasdf wrote:
Seriously??? wrote:You're asking if $60,000 is alot of money? If you're that stupid, you shouldn't be going to college.
No, he's asking if it's a large amount to pay off.
If he's going to get a degree in ChemE and work for a petroleum company starting at $75K, it's no big deal. If he's going to need grad school to have reasonable job prospects and the debt is going to keep piling up, it's prodigious.
This. Though I still think one should avoid racking up a lot of student loan debt at almost all costs when going through undergrad. If your degree is in history, english, education, kinesiology, etc, you're an idiot if you get yourself into that kind of debt. Engineering is about the only major area of study I can see in which $60k+ in debt can be acceptable. Even then, would you rather be an engineer making $70k per year with $60k in debt, or an engineer making $70k per year with $20k in debt? You can do the latter across much of the country. Going to Spend Money University is often no more helpful than State U when it comes to undergrad.
meanoldguy wrote:
University debt is (...) not worth it. But apparently you all think you have to do it.
Would you pay $0.25 to have a Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. finance, chemistry, software engineering, economics, or whatever field you may happen to fancy? I sure would, and I have a feeling you would too.
Would you pay $7.3million for a bachelors of arts in drama? I sure wouldn't, and I have a feeling you wouldn't either.
Saying "debt is not worth it" is an irrational standpoint. There is a certain price each person would pay for a given degree. For some, it's a lot. For others, it's not that much. Everyone has a different amount that they are willing to pay in order to attend college, so if the price of college is any less than that, then purchasing a unit of "college" is a mutually beneficial transaction. Going into a specific amount of student debt which exceeds your personal price for college is not worth it, but the costs and benefits of college are different for everyone.
you're F-ed. should have went the in-state route.
Going out of state is dumb unless you have massive family wealth, are a scholarship athlete, can secure large GRANTS, or are smart enough to have done enough things in high school that stood out and won large money doing it (ex. Siemens, and Intel science fair winners)
Go in-state public if you must. Do co-ops/internships in the summer to get necessary connections. Plus you'll be a step ahead of the new grads who don't have any work experience.
Yes, it's a lot. And even if you go into a potentially lucrative field, something could happen to you. If, say, you are a family member are sick and you have to take a year off, something like that, then you could be in a lot of trouble. Remember, student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, and defaulting on one can have serious consequences down the road. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but be really careful.
In Georgia, hope scholarship is the best way to go. if you can get into Tech and are an in-state student, you can graduate with a good engineering job starting at 70K, and have debt of virtually 0. All you'll need a grant for is room and board, and thats it.
But doing co-op/intern work over the summer can easily earn you enough money to pay for room and board out of your pocket..
Some folks have over $100K. I think it's just a fact of life right now for a lot of people.
better to go to a cheap in state school or even community college and get some work experience in...5 years into the field, no one will care what school your degree came from..and even if all u can get is an associate's, some companies equate X number of years of relevant work experience with a bachelor's degree if it's a job only requiring a bachelor's.
if the job requires an MS, unfortunately there is no way around it. unless you're good enough to help start a company yourself.
I'm planning on going into medical school in the fall of 2013 (that's if I get in) and know I will accumulate more debt, but I don't think it would be a major concern for me at that point.
What I am worried about is if I don't get in and have to keep paying for classes to raise my GPA or if something goes horribly wrong. I am a Microbiology major and I really don't see much potential in terms of income with an undergraduate degree, anyways. I would be scared to death if I worked as a lab tech with 60000 dollars in debt.
And BTW, I am at an in-state school. Obviously didn't get much help from my university.
In state? Ha! Where I grew up, in state tuition was well over 20 grand a year at the schools worth attending. If you weren't top 10 percent of your class you were paying full tuition (my brother: 1440/1600 SAT, paid full tuition because he was 10.1%). I got a 1580 and they threw me 5 grand. What a place New Jersey is.