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It's getting harder and harder to find a job that pays well enough to pay off $100,000 in debt easily. There's a lot of uncertainty about what that private education pays for. On the other hand, community college is a great way to educate yourself cheaply for two years. However, you get what you pay for... sometimes classes don't transfer to universities, the opportunities are less, and you have to start over when you do transfer. Plenty of people have done it, so it is a viable way to do it. Who is right? Only time will tell.
I'm not sure if I understand Golfgal's point completely, so I'll state mine. If you're going to get a college loan, it will help establish good credit. However, you should not get a loan for the express purpose of establishing credit. I hear the same argument in the mortgage forum. The fact that you establish credit and get a tax deduction does not offset the fact that you pay interest that you otherwise would not.
Finally, one important point that drives me nuts. Some people stretch out their college years so they can work to avoid loans. Unless there's no other way possible, I think that's the biggest waste of time. The longer it takes for you to earn a degree, the greater the discrepancy between what you're currently earning and what you could be earning with a degree. Take for instance a nurse, which I think earns about $60,000. Suppose you earn $20,000 per year now. If you take 6 years of college instead of the usual 4, then you lost $80,000 ($60,000*2-$20,000*2) of earning power. Does the interest savings add up to that? By the way, there are way more factors that go into it, such as interest, interest tax deductions, time value of money, value of time, etc.
I agree with the previous poster. Staying at home, working, and going to a community college won't give him a college experience. He'll still be living at home, hanginig out with people from high school, and missing out on one of the biggest life-changing peorids you can have. I thought about going to a community college for 2 years and then transferring to save money, and am VERY glad I didn't. Starting out as a freshman in a new town at college, away from home and people I already knew, was a great experience and taught me to be self-sufficient, as well as being a period of self-discovery as well. It would be pretty hard to get that living at home. Some things are more important than money.
Also, working part time would be a massive strain, and it would be difficult to pull off good grades and be involved on campus, as well as having a healthy social life. IMO, for college to really work, it needs to be a full time job. Maybe a campus or research job for a few hours a week, but not a 20-hour a week part time job.
What a breath of fresh air!
I am so tired, really, of "everyone" acting as if working and going to school is perfectly acceptable because they did it. It's HARD and it is NOT ideal. For some it is necessary and there is no way around it but I believe strongly that school should be your full time focus if you are to succeed.
Not to say that you cannot succeed if you must work as well but if you can avoid the extra strain then for heaven's sake, avoid it!
I am of course biased by my own bad experiences (16 years since I'd been in school, tried to take on FT community college course load plus full time job and failed)... but I don't think there should be so much pressure on students to take on SO much if they don't have to.
There are just so many options to this. If I had it to do over again, I may have not worked and just did college and got done sooner than 7 years for a bachelors!
However, working does give you experience and it allows you to sometimes spend for the fun. You have a mix of college and work. Working can also cause you not to do as well at times in college with all the load.
If we could go back like it was in the 50's (from what i've heard), there wouldn't be as many basics required and we could take the classes we major in. not all of the extra stuff they make you do nowdays.
But I do know, dorms can be fun. But so can online college when you can work and your own pace and not have to worry about lousy professors.
It's getting harder and harder to find a job that pays well enough to pay off $100,000 in debt easily. There's a lot of uncertainty about what that private education pays for. On the other hand, community college is a great way to educate yourself cheaply for two years. However, you get what you pay for... sometimes classes don't transfer to universities, the opportunities are less, and you have to start over when you do transfer. Plenty of people have done it, so it is a viable way to do it. Who is right? Only time will tell.
I'm not sure if I understand Golfgal's point completely, so I'll state mine. If you're going to get a college loan, it will help establish good credit. However, you should not get a loan for the express purpose of establishing credit. I hear the same argument in the mortgage forum. The fact that you establish credit and get a tax deduction does not offset the fact that you pay interest that you otherwise would not.
Finally, one important point that drives me nuts. Some people stretch out their college years so they can work to avoid loans. Unless there's no other way possible, I think that's the biggest waste of time. The longer it takes for you to earn a degree, the greater the discrepancy between what you're currently earning and what you could be earning with a degree. Take for instance a nurse, which I think earns about $60,000. Suppose you earn $20,000 per year now. If you take 6 years of college instead of the usual 4, then you lost $80,000 ($60,000*2-$20,000*2) of earning power. Does the interest savings add up to that? By the way, there are way more factors that go into it, such as interest, interest tax deductions, time value of money, value of time, etc.
Actually, taking at least on small student loan IS a good idea even if it is just to improve your credit rating and the money you can save on your auto insurance alone will more then pay for your monthly payment on a small loan, say $3000 or less.
I paid for 100% of my college education. Yes, I had student loans and the first year or two paying them off was tough but after a couple raises at work, they were nothing and had them completely paid off in 5 years. I had about $16,000 in student loans, my husband had about $10,000. These don't sound like much until you realize that a GOOD starting salary then was about $16,000. No different then a kid coming out of college now with $50,000 in loans but then the staring salaries are higher and finding a job that pays in the $40,000-50,000 range to start is not hard at all.
If you take longer to complete your degree so you can work in your field, you will be more marketable in the end because you will have both academic and work skills.
I know many people who graduate from an expensive four year private school who have never worked any job ever because they needed all their time for fun and academics and are thus not very marketable becuase they do not have any professional or part time job experience. When the loan bills come, they have no money and no job.
I think a private college has a lot more potential for achievement than any community college. Granted, students can ignore class and get through without doing much, but the resources for those who want to do well are there. I went to a private college and had professors who were the leaders in their field. They had published multiple books, appeared on CNN as advisors, etc. You don't get that caliber of professor at a community college.
Granted loans are a lot, and I was fortunate enough to only graduate with $9,000 in loans, so I will easily have them paid off in a year and a half. Private colleges provide the resources that if you choose to put the effort into it, you can graduate and get a very nice job. I give $400 to charity, put $500 in long term savings/investments, and put $400 towards my student loans every month, and I still live very comfortably on my starting salary. If I had $50,000 in loans, it would take me less than four years to pay it off if I put all of that money towards loans.
I am so tired, really, of "everyone" acting as if working and going to school is perfectly acceptable because they did it. It's HARD and it is NOT ideal. For some it is necessary and there is no way around it but I believe strongly that school should be your full time focus if you are to succeed.
Not to say that you cannot succeed if you must work as well but if you can avoid the extra strain then for heaven's sake, avoid it!
That's pretty much the stance my parents took. My father worked 10 jobs over the course of 4 years when he was in college and hated it, so he refused to force me to do that. Working can be good, but there's a big difference between a small side job for extra money and working your way through school. By working you can meet new people, have a little extra cash flow, build good working references, but it's important that your primary focus is school.
I didn't work for the first two years, until I got a solid handle on my schedule and time management. Then I worked in catering for a year and it was fantastic, especially since it was through the campus dining company and all the supervisors accepted that school was first, job was second. After that I was able to get a paying internship which, again, had that mindset. In contrast, I had a job in high school that could care less that I was in school. I ended up freaking out, being under a lot of stress, and seeing my grades suffer until I finally quit. It's just not worth it.
If you take longer to complete your degree so you can work in your field, you will be more marketable in the end because you will have both academic and work skills.
I know many people who graduate from an expensive four year private school who have never worked any job ever because they needed all their time for fun and academics and are thus not very marketable becuase they do not have any professional or part time job experience. When the loan bills come, they have no money and no job.
Another thing no one has mentioned yet is working during the summer. A summer job, especially an internship on one's field of study, is an excellent way to gain relevant work experience, save money for school, and graduate in 4 years. I've had two internships so far, both paid well, and look great on my resume as they are direct experience in my field of study. For an engineering major such as myself, interning with a company which does actual engineering looks MUCH better on a resume than working at Lowe's all year. Same thing for so me one in lets say finance interning at a bank, someone in pre-med interning for a medical lab, ect..
I went to a state school and didn't work during the year, but came out very marketable because of my summer internship experience, good grades, and research experience (the one job I did have while being a student).
Another relatively easy job for a student is being a RA in the campus dorms. Not everyone is a good fit, but you generally get free room and board and only have to pay for tuition.
I think the experience of a four year college is also life changing. I graduated from a community college and immediately started work and then married. There really wasn't much difference from going to HS and going to the CC except for the drive. My kids otoh, who attend or graduated from four year colleges, are doing or have done study abroads and learned so much life information from the people they met in their dorms and in their classes. Most CC's are people that are not only from their state, but most likely grew up within an hour of the CC. That may not seem like a big deal but meeting people from outside your own little bubble just changes your whole perception of life.
I also agree with OA 5599 regarding summer jobs. My kids work every summer and that money helps pay for spending money at college. We don't contribute to that. My daughter also worked about 10 hours a week at college, her choice.
Maybe a campus or research job for a few hours a week, but not a 20-hour a week part time job.
You work "few" hours on campus at the Library, Parking, Events, Gym etc and not in research!
Typical Full Teaching Assistantships require at least 20 hrs/wk. If you are stuck with Tutoring, grading assignments/quizzes and or managing labs - it easily becomes 30 hrs/wk. Research assistantships always run more than 20 hrs/wk. In that regard, it is no different than having a 20 hrs/wk part-time job that helps you pay the tuition.
Most often it is the RA's and the TA's that get the best grades so it is obvious that working 20+ hrs and carrying a full time academic load has no impact on the grades.
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