How many years out of college?
What is the balance on your student loans?
Was your education a good investment?
How many years out of college?
What is the balance on your student loans?
Was your education a good investment?
How many years out of college? 15
What is the balance on your student loans? 0
Was your education a good investment? nope
3
0-Full ride DI :)
Free a$$ for 5 years, I'd say so
Grad Student(2nd year) phd
$18,000
someday.
Out of college for 8 years...dang!
balance - 0 (but wife has about $10K)
good investment? Definitely. My wife and I both are doing exactly what we went to school for and can live comfortably.
3rd year out of undergrad, 2nd year masters, onto PhD next year
$7,000 from undergrad, $0 from masters (stipends)
I love what I'm doing. But I'm not in a field where my education will lead to immense wealth.
Graduated from college in 1998. Went to med school, then residency, finished residency in 2006, still owe $107,000, which is a lot less than some of my colleagues....good investment, yes. Is it fair, probably not.
graduated 2001
$15,000
hard telling, hate job-pay okay
What do you mean, is it fair?
2 years out
0 balance
yes
2 years removed from Master's
about $60k (wife's included in consolidation)
no
7
$0
Yes.
Exactly one year since I finished (Oct 06)
Zero
It's debatable
1.4
~ $10,200
So far, yes.
UsedToBeKnowItAll wrote:
What do you mean, is it fair?
cost of education, especially graduate education seems steep and forces people do particular work or professions that will repay back student loans. for example..For medicine, far less people are more likely to become family docs (with relatively less pay) rather than radiologists (with much more earnings) when burdened with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt...in any case...such is life...
I'm 15 years out of college. My parents (and scholarships) paid for my undergrad education. I borrowed a total of only $12,000 for law school (worked and had very cheap housing) and paid it off over 10 years. Law school sucked, but it was a good education. I had plenty of classmates who had over $100k in student loan debt when we graduated. I honestly don't know how they did it. Unless you join a big sweat-shop firm, it's not easy to make enough money to pay off that kind of debt. There was a very recent wall street journal article that discussed attorney compensation and while "average" attorney compensation is good, it is skewed by the big earners. There are plenty of young lawyers who have big debts and low salaries.
Was education a good investment? I'm in the camp that believes education is always a good "investment" in and of itself. The law school curriculum provides a pretty liberal education, so I would argue it has value beyond the "earning capacity" it produces. Having said that, I find that some private college tuitions are outrageous and I can't imagine being 20 years old and in 6-figure debt. My kids are 6 and 4 and I've got nice college funds started for them. I like the thought of being able to send them to the finest schools, but I do question the "value" of some degrees.
now:
4
60k
undergrad yes, grad no
in 4 years:
8
180k
who knows.
.25 years out of undergrad, $16.5k
Working now, so I hope to have it paid off in 2-3 years. Will go back for graduate degree, probably part time, some time in the next 3-5 years.
27 years after my BA, but with three graduate degrees since then. 15 years since my last graduate degree.
Student loan balance (consolodated with wife's) = $65K
Was it worth it? I'll never say being educated isn't worth it, but it's tough knowing that I'll carry student loan debt to my grave.
college doodie wrote:
How many years out of college?
What is the balance on your student loans?
Was your education a good investment?
16 years out of college.
Zero. Never had to take out a loan.
YES. Very good investment.