Anyone live at home all four years of college and have no student loans? (degrees, costs) - Colleges and Universities -Higher education - City-Data Forum

chit chatter · 09-14-2012, 03:29 PM

My brother just graduated from college with no debt. He paid for all of his tuition and fees through part time jobs. How did he do it? He put up with Mom and Dad and lived at home and commuted to college.

No he did not get the true college experience with dorm life and moving to a new town to go to college but college is only four years of his life and student loans are forever. Another relative has been paying off his $65K in student loans he got out for going to a private college now going on 15 years with no real end in sight.

So what is a better plan, living at home and commuting to college or going away and living in the dorm, not working dovoting your self to parties and studying and owing lots of student loans at the end?

NJBest · 09-14-2012, 03:57 PM

Well you name two extremes with many inbetweens. Why does it have to be one or the other?

Sunnydee · 09-14-2012, 04:02 PM

I did this too. I lived at home and took the metro bus to college each day. I then caught the bus home, fixed dinner for the family (no mother), borrowed my dad's car, and went to my part time, about 30 hours per week, job. When I got home from work, between 10 and 11 p.m., I did homework until it was finished. Then I got up at about 6 a.m. so I could repeat the process and be on time for my 8 a.m. classes. I never skipped a class because I was paying for the classes and wanted to get my money's worth. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but I did what I needed to do to get my degree. I graduated a quarter early, debt free, and began working immediately. Commuters definitely have a different college experience than the people fortunate enough to live on campus.

brocco · 09-14-2012, 04:03 PM

here we go again...

i took out 25k and had the full college experience at a reputable school. tuition was expensive since the school was private but i got lots of financial aid. i think 25k is average. most students arent taking out 65k nor does one have to live at home to keep their loans reasonable (it is one option of many, though).

NJBest · 09-14-2012, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brocco

here we go again...

i took out 25k and had the full college experience at a reputable school. tuition was expensive since the school was private but i got lots of financial aid. i think 25k is average. most students arent taking out 65k nor does one have to live at home to keep their loans reasonable (it is one option of many, though).

According to the OP, that $25k loan "is forever". So don't bother paying it off early or anything.

Febtober · 09-14-2012, 04:20 PM

I wouldn't trade my times in the dorms for anything. I had a scholarship for tuition, so I only had to pay housing, but even if I didn't, its 7 years later now and the loans would be long gone.

It was a great life experience that teaches you about social interaction and is a good venue to make mistakes to learn from, before you make them out in the "Real World."

Sweet*Tea · 09-14-2012, 04:35 PM

I lived in the same city as the college I attended so it definitely made more sense for me to commute. Although I was very lucky to have my parents pay for my education, I'm still glad I was able to save them some of the expense by commuting. I went to a private all girls school which was very expensive and I could have lived on campus but chose not to do so. I also don't think I missed out on too much of the college life because I practically lived there studying and hanging out with my friends.

I think commuting is a great way to save a lot of money while going to school but it's obviously going to depend on the individual's set of circumstances (type of school, degree/major, attitude and mindset of individual, etc).

annerk · 09-14-2012, 05:44 PM

One of my best friends lived at home through her undergrad and then her MBA. She got a full scholarship for her undergrad and a p/t job covered books and commuting costs. She then worked a year after graduation at both a f/t and a p/t job, saving every penny from the full time, and paid cash for her MBA.

lmw36 · 09-14-2012, 06:16 PM

I went to four years of undergrad at a state school. My dad paid about 10K total for me, I took about 4K out in loans and worked around 30 hours a week (paid) and about 10-20 unpaid for internships. I covered any food, gas, fun etc with cash.

I have around 4K in loans to pay off, which is nothing. I'm going to pay it off in cash the end of the year assuming I don't have any more medical issues.

If my dad didn't pay for the extra 10K, I probably would have stayed home or chose a different living situation.

I can't fathom borrowing 65K.

skeet09 · 09-16-2012, 12:28 AM

I had $5k in student loans. I don't know any other people that are in my age bracket that have loans that low and have a degree. I've met a few folks at work that do not have a degree and their loan balance is much more (anywhere from $8k to $18k). Some I know have degrees and their balances vary, from $15 to $58k. I ended up paying off the balance pretty quickly, parents could not pitch in for college. It used to bother me that I didn't have the whole living on campus experience but I got over it pretty quickly once I met folks at work who did and have large balances.