$120k tuition down the drain to sling coffee at Dunkin' Donuts.. (employee, apply)
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Bottom line: Unless you are going into a career where you can make incredibly good money within 5-10 years (say a doctor or something), you shouldn't go NEAR student loans.
The solution is easy: Go to community college for a year or two. So much incredibly cheaper than a four year school and as long as you're taking basic classes like Algebra 102 or English 103, they transfer.
But nobody wants to hear that.
Yes... and yes!
$120K sound like more of a stupid tax than tuition....
College, especially for a theater major, is just a weed out. He probably beat out a lot of people because of his education. Who do you think is managing all the fast food restaurants and retail stores in the world? Not high school drop outs.
CC in my state is $1,300 for two semesters; Spring + Summer, or Fall + Spring. However, that's only tuition, it's $3,000 for the whole thing: tuition and books. With the extra loan money if I have any, I'm usually spending it on gas for my car, or emergency groceries when the fridge is empty.
Either way, I agree with SweepTheLeg, it's far better to get loans in CC than in university. Getting loans in CC and getting a FWS job, should offset the cost. Unfortunately, I can't get the FWS anymore, so a traditional job should suit me
Either way, you might consider me a failure according to the OP's logic. I'm $31,000 in debt (as of now), with a useless Bachelor's degree from a defunct school. My job histories are normal minimum wage or contract jobs, that's it. I have "nothing to show for it".
BUT I took a year off, then went back to school, and I now have specific job skills that I can use for a better paying job. I'm not employed at the moment because my classes are difficult and requires substantial amount of studying, however, I only have 3 weeks left in these difficult classes and then I'm done with the "hard stuff". This should allow me, more free time (that's not devoted to studying) to actually, you know, GET a job and re-pay my loans.
Compared to people on my FB wall, I thought I was financial failure until someone brought up a very good point. The only debt I have is student loans. I don't own a house like most of my FB friends, I don't lease a car like most of my FB friends, I don't have kids, I don't have credit card debt, or other debt. Likewise, my husband has a tiny debt of only $1,300 which should've been collected by now but the state hasn't bothered (I guess that will paid off later then).
Even still, with Obama's IBR plan, no one is truly F'ed. Unless future presidents get rid of it :/
I just think for anyone to say they have absolutely no sympathy for those who struggling to pay for college when their own kids had mommy and daddy to pay for the gist of their college is a selfish and cold-hearted thing to say.
But again, it's just my opinion.
The mommy and daddy is smug, just sayin...
The no sympathy comment was highlighted in a way that EXCLUDED a key component (i.e. I was talking about my situation, not my kids situation):
"I put myself through school as a kid (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!), so I am not sure I have a lot of sympathy for people who opt to go to a small, uber expensive, boutique private college and major in a discipline that has no direct applicability to any type of skill or knowledge that an employer will pay for/hire/employ, while running up student loan balances that represent 5-10 years of fulltime employment earnings potential.
So if you only focus on this portion of the statment "so I am not sure I have a lot of sympathy..." and exclude all the rest then this is a reading comprehension issue (that was smug, by the way!).
The no sympathy comment was highlighted in a way that EXCLUDED a key component (i.e. I was talking about my situation, not my kids situation):
"I put myself through school as a kid (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!), so I am not sure I have a lot of sympathy for people who opt to go to a small, uber expensive, boutique private college and major in a discipline that has no direct applicability to any type of skill or knowledge that an employer will pay for/hire/employ, while running up student loan balances that represent 5-10 years of fulltime employment earnings potential.
So if you only focus on this portion of the statment "so I am not sure I have a lot of sympathy..." and exclude all the rest then this is a reading comprehension issue (that was smug, by the way!).
I read everything you say. I just felt you discredited yourself.
You didn't allow your own kids to struggle paying for school (even if you supposedly gave him "a choice"), yet you claim you have no sympathy for those who didn't or don't have that option.
I read everything you say. I just felt you discredited yourself.
You didn't allow your own kids to struggle paying for school (even if you supposedly gave him "a choice"), yet you claim you have no sympathy for those who didn't or don't have that option.
The two Engineers paid for 2 1/2 years full time education and living expenses, and have employers paid/paying for their advanced degrees. One daughter used the military, and the history major paid her last year and a half.
The fact that I helped my kids is what parents do when they can, I didn't have that blessing.
Not sure how my experience of putting myself through school is somehow "discredited" because I helped my kids make smart decisions about cost effective ways to do advanced education, and helped them with the initial 2 years.
I read everything you say. I just felt you discredited yourself.
You didn't allow your own kids to struggle paying for school (even if you supposedly gave him "a choice"), yet you claim you have no sympathy for those who didn't or don't have that option.
Oh, and the no sympathy comment does have the caveats about the type of school, tuition rates, and major.
So, to be clear, you have sympathy for people that can't afford $30,000 per year in tuition, at a private school, majoring in a degree that provides no dicernable skills for employment, and take out $120,000 in student loans?
The two Engineers paid for 2 1/2 years full time education and living expenses, and have employers paid/paying for their advanced degrees. One daughter used the military, and the history major paid her last year and a half.
The fact that I helped my kids is what parents do when they can, I didn't have that blessing.
Not sure how my experience of putting myself through school is somehow "discredited" because I helped my kids make smart decisions about cost effective ways to do advanced education, and helped them with the initial 2 years.
Because you lack humility.
Instead of saying "I have no sympathy" and patting yourself on the back for how well you managed, you of all people should be expressing compassion to those who are struggling to pay for school.
Everyone's situation is different. Try to understand that and perhaps help them out instead of using your success story to criticize them.
Why is everyone assuming that he paid the sticker price for his education, when almost nobody does? Private colleges often have generous scholarship packages that make the out of pocket expense similar to that of a state school. The median student loan burden is around 20k for an undergrad in any field. There's no realistic reason to assume that he owes 120k, unless he told OP that he does, and and OP sounds like she/he wouldn't dare deign to speak to him now that he/she knows that this guy - horror of horrors - serves food for a living.
$1200 per semester in the 70's and early 80'S, just short of $3800 in todays dollars, or about the tuition rate of a lot of state colleges and universities.
I worked full time and completed my senior year at night school.
But that also depends as the times of classes and if the employer allows you. Schedules are not some rock solid 8-5 or 9-5 for everyone. Working in a police department, fire department, retail, medical field etc is hardly a fixed schedule. For my undergrad most classes we during the day. For graduate of course it is at night but many people dropped out or failed out because they thought this was one of those part time mba things they see on daytime tv. Not all classes can be taken at all times, there was a certain order. If you missed it the first time it might come back in another few years so yes if you want to finish it in the right time you pretty much had to go full time. The longest was about six years.
I know there are some places that might advertise attending class part time but sometimes realistically that can take forever.
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