Student Loans/Paying for College

[Deleted]

Do you mean how much debt is Gen X taking on to pay for their kids to go to college, or how many of us are still paying for our own student loans?

[stats45]

The best information that I have seen suggests that only around half of all students have any significant student loan debt. The average debt for these students is around $20,000.

I paid for my undergraduate degree with scholarships, and it was already inexpensive because I attended a public university. I finished my Master's degree and am finishing my Dctorate at a very expensive private school, but they are paying for everything and pay very well.

I think that there are a couple of places where students get in trouble. First, undergraduate education should not be that expensive. There are so many options, and nearly all students can choose from good, in-state public universities. Many students have problems because they could go to an in-state school for little or no debt and instead go to an expensive private univeresity or out-of-state public school and take out large amounts of loans. Second, outside of medicine, law, business, and a few other specialities, graduate education (particularly doctoral education) should be free or extremely low-cost. If it isn't, the student is either not qualified to attend needs to be absolutely sure that the money spent will lead to more salary or opportunity.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

The best information that I have seen suggests that only around half of all students have any significant student loan debt. The average debt for these students is around $20,000.

$20,000 or even $30,000 is not much at all in student loan debt. Any student graduating with a degree in any marketable field of study will easily be earning at least $50,000.
In the 70s, grads having $3000 to $4000 was quite common. Does not seem like much, but jobs out there for new grads were paying $6000 to $8000, maybe a slight bit more.
I graduated with about $3200 in loans, my first job was around $6000.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

So, would you borrow based on potential payback. If going into social work or something of that nature where the pay isn't as high, it wouldn't seem to make sense to borrow 100+K. Whereas going to medical school, it might.

A few years ago a poster on the msn money site started a thread. She graduated from an excessively expensive and exclusive private, bohemian liberal arts college somewhere in the northeast with a degree in social work. She also accumulated $100,000 in student loans. She was working in the social work field earning $25,000 with little hope for income growth.
The moral of the story is if you desire to get into fields such as these, perhaps starting out at a community college and transferring to an inexpensive state school, would be a much wiser and much less expensive choice.
JMO

[schildi]

I managed to go through College without having to pay. No student loans of any kind, and hopefully we will manage to do it the same way with our kids.
I did my undergrad studies and my first masters degree in Germany. It was free. My graduate studies in the U.S. and my second Masters were paid through a RA (research assistantship). It covered all tuition, plus a salary of about a thousand bucks a month, which was more than enough to live on, especially as I lived together with my wife, who studied under the same terms at the time.

Wow, I now have three stars, I am starting to feel important!

[justwhoever]

DH went back to college in 2003 for x-ray tech. and ended up with 20k SL. He worked 2-3 yrs in the field making around 40k. He still has SL. How much I do not know. When he lost his job I said we'll put them in deferment, his parents threw a fit and took over on paying them. I am totally against them paying it but he will not stand up to his parents.

I totally think that college is overrated and is a waste. But that might have something to do with him now working in management at a fast food place. Granted he can go way up in this field(is that even a field?) and make 75k, and for our area we'd be put on the very well off list. But still. College is NOT always good.

[stats45]

Most people who are college material can find a good, inexpensive option in a state school. With working at least a little at the same time and keeping expenses low, it shouldn't be that onerous.

I would give a few caveats to what I said above though.

First, sometimes people receive generous scholarships to out-of-state schools that require them to do exceptionally well at the school. I had a high school friend who accepted a scholarship to a private school that required him to keep a near perfect GPA while taking a full course load. He wasn't able to do this, and he was faced with either transferring to another college (which I think he should have done) or paying for the expensive school out of pocket. It can be especially difficult if this happens after a year, because some schools make sure you change your residency after a year to help with tuition costs.

Second, there are many students who have unrealistic expectations about their abilities. Being 'good at math' does not mean you will be capable of a mathematics or engineering degree. If you take out loans for the first three years assuming you will be an engineer, but end up graduating with a degree in humanities, you will probably be a bit overwhelmed with loan debt.

[Cookies Galore]

I took out about $19,000 in federal loans and I'm down to a little over $7,000 left to pay (graduated fall 2004). Even when I was a waitress, the monthly payments have been painless. It's all in how smart your kid is with choice of college and planning how much he/she will actually need to borrow.
I went to a state-related university (not in the state school system, but not a crazy expensive private school). Every year when I got my aid package, I would look over the amount of loans offered and figure out what I really needed. My aid package might have said I could get $5,000 a semester in federal loans, but I knew I never needed more than, say, $2,000. Too many kids and their parents just nod their heads and say okay to whatever they qualify for.

[The J]

I had $0 from undergrad. Full scholarship. I accumulated about $120k in law school. I still have almost all of that (just under $116k). I'll have it for a long time. The payments are manageable, because I'm on a 30-year repayment schedule. The interest rates are incredibly low, so I have no incentive to try to pay them back faster.

[DVM gone riding]

education is an experience-best most important four years of my life-so don't totally discount this. BUT the worse possible financial move without corresponding "status" improvement is to pay full out of state tuition at a state school. For example. CO State Univ out of state tuition is about 10k more then my high status small liberal arts school was, and the LAs give out extensive need based scholarships where out of state students are usually screwed unless they are going into a particular field that the school wants to increase.

[DVM gone riding]

meghan I totally agree!! I changed my loan packages based on my need every single year!! Only in my last year of vet school did I borrow the full amount and that was because that year is year-around so I couldn't work in the summer.

[Regis]

Had always told all three of our kids that we'd pay half of their college education. DS1 is getting more than half of his college education paid for through academic scholarships. DS2, a junior in high school, will probably get his half through a combination of academic/athletic scholarships. DD is a freshman in high school - we'll see if she will need to use student loans or not. They're all fairly financially savvy so they're working hard to make sure there's no money that needs to come out of their pocket.

Wife and I started college plans for them the year they were born. We guessed at what we'd need on a monthly basis to achieve the desired result. We used value cost averaging so we were investing more when prices were lowest.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I didn't have any student loans from undergrad.

I did borrow $75,000 to pay for law school, though. I graduated in 1992 and they were paid off in 2002 ~ the last chunk was paid off as an engagement present from my wonderful DH.

[cronewitch]

Not all people with degrees even in marketable fields will ever land a job in that field and some will never make 50K.

When I got my degree in accounting in 1991 I was working in software support and would have had to take a pay cut to work in accounting. I waited until 2001 to look for an accounting job and was lucky to find 30K then in 2002 found 40K.

Our receptionist shouldn't have gone to college at all because she isn't able to deal with people at all. She is making 30K with 3 college degrees. Her last degree was accounting about 4-5 years ago but she will never land even an entry level accounting job. We have openings that we could use someone without education or experience and yet she isn't being offered the job. Nobody wants to train her or deal with her so she sits at reception doing nothing most of the day.

[CarolinaKat]

I agree with crone marketable does not always mean high-earning. To get to 50k sometimes takes a few years of experience, but a lot of grads come out 'entitled' to that figure (substitute any figure that a certian degree 'entitles' you to). So a job offer at 40k surprises them. Employers don't have to pay the 'entitled' ones 50k+ if someone with equivalent education (sometimes better) can be had for 40k.

[kimber45]

DS grauated in 2009 with a BS in Business Administration. He went to state schools and ended up with about $15,000 in Student Loans. Not too bad considering it was $15,000 per year for tuition and housing. He worked summers and part-time during the school year. We helped out some and so did the IL's.

[Deleted]

"Most people who are college material can find a good, inexpensive option in a state school. With working at least a little at the same time and keeping expenses low, it shouldn't be that onerous."

except that state universities are getting harder and harder to get into. Our state univeristy is rejecting students with 3.9s, high SATs, extracurriculars. So what does a student do then - go to a school that doesn't offer what they want? And our state univeristy isn't a 'bargain'. Tuition, fees, room and board come to approx. $20K this current year (not everybody can commute). there is no one size fits all!

[Urban Chicago]

Second, outside of medicine, law, business, and a few other specialities, graduate education (particularly doctoral education) should be free or extremely low-cost. If it isn't, the student is either not qualified to attend needs to be absolutely sure that the money spent will lead to more salary or opportunity.

Well said.

As some of you may know, I'm a financial aid person, so I get to see the gamut of people who take out huge loans or refuse to take any, parents, kids, etc...

Personally, I had about 20K in debt after graduation, and I went to an expensive private school. I got big scholarships and grants, plus work-study. I had the loans paid off about 3 years later. I still work at a college, and it offers free undergrad tuition for my kids. In my view, I have given them one avenue to free schooling and will expect them to meet the admissions criteria. If they want to attend other schools, they'll have to raise a substantial amount themselves and be very persuasive to get me to pay for a different school.

In general, I would say count on some loans for the student. If you're borrowing more than the max for federal student loans in undergrad, or if your parents have to borrow, you are probably paying too much. Don't discount private schools as they often give much bigger scholarships, so you may end up paying less than you would at a state school.

[telephus44]

I think that yes, the primary consideration should be the amount of loans in relation to a starting salary. Taking out $100K worth of loans for a degree in social work that pays $25K is ridiculous. But taking out $125K for a law degree (depending on where you live and what kind of law you intend to practise) may be worth it.

And while I know that everyone likes to think that you can always gets "free" education - just go to a community college and transfer, just apply for scholarships, etc. - I think that's largely changing. Imagine how hard it would be to get into a good state school if no one went to expensive private schools. I think more people are trying to go this route, which is driving up the competition for state schools. I'm in MA - I imagine if everyone that would normally go to Harvard or MIT decided to apply to UMass, I'd have a hard time getting accepted. Plus, all those "scholarships" and "cheap in-state tuition" aren't necessarily free - someone is paying for them somewhere.


I went to one of the 7 sisters and graduated with $17,625 in student loans and my first job paid $25,000. Took me 7 years to double my salary. I would do it again.


I am not sure about what I'll do for DS. We are saving for college for him, although he's autistic. He has a very high IQ and is high functioning, but I'm not sure what his higher education experience / expenses will be like.