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I was amazed to find that a friend is paying for a student loan with the balance still at $70,000, and that payment is twice as much as she and her husband's house payment. In fact one of her paychecks every month goes to the student loan, and that will last another 5 years before it's paid off. Even a 29% interest credit card is not as bad as that, considering that most wouldn't ever get that high a limit. The 2008 recession sub-prime home loans, however, had a more severe effect on many people who ended up homeless.
Yes, I recently worked with a new grad physical therapist who was paying $2500 a month on her student loans. How do you even begin a life with that kind of debt? How do you buy a home? And if you met your spouse at college, and you add their debt to the pile, how do you ever begin to even think about buying a home? People who come on and say I worked my way through college and so can anyone else don’t realize how much more expensive it is today than it was when we graduated. I think I paid $250 a month for mine. And my first job, my health insurance was free, well now it is a couple of hundred out of every paycheck even for a young person. Even things like the continuing Ed that is required to keep our professional license, and my first job I got $1500 a year towards continuing Ed. Now in my industry, that has largely been eliminated across the board for years now. It’s a very different world for today’s graduates than it was when I graduated.
Yes, I recently worked with a new grad physical therapist who was paying $2500 a month on her student loans. How do you even begin a life with that kind of debt? How do you buy a home? And if you met your spouse at college, and you add their debt to the pile, how do you ever begin to even think about buying a home? People who come on and say I worked my way through college and so can anyone else don’t realize how much more expensive it is today than it was when we graduated. I think I paid $250 a month for mine. And my first job, my health insurance was free, well now it is a couple of hundred out of every paycheck even for a young person. Even things like the continuing Ed that is required to keep our professional license, and my first job I got $1500 a year towards continuing Ed. Now in my industry, that has largely been eliminated across the board for years now. It’s a very different world for today’s graduates than it was when I graduated.
You don't think about buying a house. You think about paying off the student loans.
How do you even begin a life with that kind of debt?
Actually, it's a good learning experience. Better to learn now about the dangers of too much debt and/or not carefully reading a loan doc. than later with a family to support.
I'm sure the individual in question will be much more careful when the day comes to sign off on a purchase agreement for a house.
You don't think about buying a house. You think about paying off the student loans.
How do you even begin a life with that kind of debt?
Actually, it's a good learning experience. Better to learn now about the dangers of too much debt and/or not carefully reading a loan doc. than later with a family to support.
I'm sure the individual in question will be much more careful when the day comes to sign off on a purchase agreement for a house.
They knew they would have a lot of debt, they both had dreams of being1. a physical therapist 2. an occupational therapist. You cannot really price compare to save money with a field like that that is so competitive to get accepted into. One requires a Masters and the other a doctorate. If that is what your goal is, there is no way to do it without accumulating a lot of debt.
That’s not the point, the point is the debt should not cripple you for life just because you’ve had a dream that you want to achieve in life. America was always supposed to be the land of achievement and dreams coming true if you work hard enough. It is no longer the case in many ways. I have a young relative who even though she is yours from graduation, has a dream of being a veterinarian. She lives and breathes animals. Should we tell her forget it pick a different dream because your debt will be too high with that one? Is that really what we are now? Choose your major based on what your debt will be and not on what your passion is. That’s a pretty sad statement.
And the other aspects I mentioned count a lot too. Benefits and salaries have not only not kept up with the rising cost of an education, they have declined.
They knew they would have a lot of debt, they both had dreams of being1. a physical therapist 2. an occupational therapist. You cannot really price compare to save money with a field like that that is so competitive to get accepted into. One requires a Masters and the other a doctorate. If that is what your goal is, there is no way to do it without accumulating a lot of debt.
That’s not the point, the point is the debt should not cripple you for life just because you’ve had a dream that you want to achieve in life. America was always supposed to be the land of achievement and dreams coming true if you work hard enough. It is no longer the case in many ways. I have a young relative who even though she is yours from graduation, has a dream of being a veterinarian. She lives and breathes animals. Should we tell her forget it pick a different dream because your debt will be too high with that one? Is that really what we are now? Choose your major based on what your debt will be and not on what your passion is. That’s a pretty sad statement.
And the other aspects I mentioned count a lot too. Benefits and salaries have not only not kept up with the rising cost of an education, they have declined.
Choose your major based on what your debt will be and not on what your passion is. That’s a pretty sad statement.
No. Not at all. By all means chase the dream, esp. when young. However, your friends were aware borrowing tens of thousands of dollar may take years to pay back. Now, that bill is due.
That’s not the point, the point is the debt should not cripple you for life just because you’ve had a dream that you want to achieve in life.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of things in life which aren't fair. Which is another lesson best learned early on.
They knew they would have a lot of debt, they both had dreams of being1. a physical therapist 2. an occupational therapist. You cannot really price compare to save money with a field like that that is so competitive to get accepted into. One requires a Masters and the other a doctorate. If that is what your goal is, there is no way to do it without accumulating a lot of debt.
That’s not the point, the point is the debt should not cripple you for life just because you’ve had a dream that you want to achieve in life. America was always supposed to be the land of achievement and dreams coming true if you work hard enough. It is no longer the case in many ways. I have a young relative who even though she is yours from graduation, has a dream of being a veterinarian. She lives and breathes animals. Should we tell her forget it pick a different dream because your debt will be too high with that one? Is that really what we are now? .
Vets make big bucks, bigggggg bucks in some cases. I wouldn't discourage a family member from that. It's hard as hell to become one, but yeah.
It's the students that are psych/English/sociology majors with no plans to go on to grad school that need the talkings to.
Choose your major based on what your debt will be and not on what your passion is. That’s a pretty sad statement.
No. Not at all. By all means chase the dream, esp. when young. However, your friends were aware borrowing tens of thousands of dollar may take years to pay back. Now, that bill is due.
That’s not the point, the point is the debt should not cripple you for life just because you’ve had a dream that you want to achieve in life.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of things in life which aren't fair. Which is another lesson best learned early on.
The point is it didn't used to be this way, and again costs for everything else were never so high compared to salary. Purchasing power is greatly diminished by this debt, and that hurts our economy in the long run. Between student loans, health care costs, housing costs and the elimination of pensions for most, it is nothing today like it was for prior generations. It is greed pure and simple that led to this. Why should we saddle our kids futures with this kind of yoke around their necks? It behooves us as a society to have highly educated people. The debt problem combined with rising COL is killing the middle class in this country. You might want to just bend over and keep taking it with a smile, but many of us think it's time we look for solutions.
Vets make big bucks, bigggggg bucks in some cases. I wouldn't discourage a family member from that. It's hard as hell to become one, but yeah.
It's the students that are psych/English/sociology majors with no plans to go on to grad school that need the talkings to.
Most of the 6 figure debt is not those students.
Vets make about $80,000 to a high of $170,000 (which would be experienced person with their own practice). Vet school, not counting undergrad at all, averages $275,000. It would also not be possible to work and go to vet school (it's like med school) so you need living expenses, especially if the vet school that accepted you is across the country. And in order to get an edge on acceptance, you'd need to go to a top tier undergrad, too.
The acceptance rate for Vet school is between 10-15%. So those 85% who don't get in will have big debt and nothing really marketable without going further along in education.
I wouldn't dissuade them either, unless the child was older and clearly not someone who can get straight A's in science courses. But other posters here are saying the debt these students take on is their own fault, they should have abandoned their dreams so they could get an education more cheaply. He and many think that is an acceptable solution to the student debt crisis. I think it just brings quality of life in America and the ability to achieve the American Dream down yet another notch. Not sure how much lower we can go, kind of afraid to find out.
Just another btw, the reason our economy has been good for the past decade or so is because people go out and buy phones and cars. I think people should only buy what they could afford too, but if everyone really did that a lot of businesses would go under. That's pretty much what happened in Covid, people bought necessities from home, didn't get burgers or go out to dinner, etc.
Vets make about $80,000 to a high of $170,000 (which would be experienced person with their own practice). Vet school, not counting undergrad at all, averages $275,000. It would also not be possible to work and go to vet school (it's like med school) so you need living expenses, especially if the vet school that accepted you is .
You sure? Some vets charge unfathomable prices in nice areas of town and people just pay it. For example, we have a pug. Nail clippings, well it might as well be The Exorcist with pugs. The local convenient vet in our nice part of town 5 minutes away wanted $700 (cram every possible BS profit onto a blood test, then put him under) whereas I found a vet everyone loves that's on the other side of town that did it for $50 and just sedates him with an IV.
Vets make about $80,000 to a high of $170,000 (which would be experienced person with their own practice). Vet school, not counting undergrad at all, averages $275,000. It would also not be possible to work and go to vet school (it's like med school) so you need living expenses, especially if the vet school that accepted you is across the country. And in order to get an edge on acceptance, you'd need to go to a top tier undergrad, too.
The acceptance rate for Vet school is between 10-15%. So those 85% who don't get in will have big debt and nothing really marketable without going further along in education.
I wouldn't dissuade them either, unless the child was older and clearly not someone who can get straight A's in science courses. But other posters here are saying the debt these students take on is their own fault, they should have abandoned their dreams so they could get an education more cheaply. He and many think that is an acceptable solution to the student debt crisis. I think it just brings quality of life in America and the ability to achieve the American Dream down yet another notch. Not sure how much lower we can go, kind of afraid to find out.
Just another btw, the reason our economy has been good for the past decade or so is because people go out and buy phones and cars. I think people should only buy what they could afford too, but if everyone really did that a lot of businesses would go under. That's pretty much what happened in Covid, people bought necessities from home, didn't get burgers or go out to dinner, etc.
I didn't say that. By all means chase your dreams. However, your friends were aware they would have to pay back the loan. You can't take the money and cry foul later.
You took out the loan...YOU pay it off. This is NOT for me or big govt to pay off...sorry.
In the future, kids need to take a VERY hard look at what they are signing up for and research if it is really necessary for success. They also need to consider maybe a trade school or apprenticeship instead.
Unless you are going to med school, law school or engineering school...you might want to re-think your college plans before drowning in debt. That English or Women's Studies degree is not going to help you pay off that 80k dollar college loan debt until you are old and gray.
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