College Loan Amounts

[ktbubster]

I'm going to be graduating college next semester with a degree in Product Design. I am going to be applying all over, and am not really worried about finding a job in my field (the perfect job... no, but a job in general to get out there with... not too worried about that) and I'm not THAT worried about being able to make my loan payments. Although I know I definitely want to pay off as much as I can each month so I will pay a lot less interest.

Anyway... that's not the point. I was just curious about other people who graduating college with loans and what type and how much they ended up graduating with. Perhaps this is a sensitive topic for some people, but for anyone who doesn't mind contributing. I'm just curious. I come from a fairly well to do area, and a very very tiny percentage of people I know actually had to take out loans for school.

I however have about 40k in private loans (that are going to be consolidated into one lower interst loan as soon as I can send in the paper work [have to wait until a month before I graduate to get that in the works with my loan people]) that I will have to pay off after I graduate.

How about anyone else?

Oh and for anyone who's been there and done that, paid off their loans or are on their way to being done... any suggestions to make the process better/faster/less painful? I'd love any input.

 

[dukebound85]

ill have like 11k after i graduate this may. not too worried about paying it off as i have job offers lined up in the 55-60k range. that will be nice for once

 

[ethernet76]

When you consolidate make sure the combined loan has no early payment penalty.

Mine are at about 35-40k.

 

[Naimfan]

Between law school and my PhD I have about 110K in student loans.

I consolidated them, took them long, and set up auto-payment, so my interest rate is down to 2.25% or something like that. So there is no urgency to me to pay them back at all. I'd suggest you talk to a certified financial planner--paying back student loans too early is a bad idea.

 

[themadchemist]

Between law school and my PhD I have about 110K in student loans.

I consolidated them, took them long, and set up auto-payment, so my interest rate is down to 2.25% or something like that. So there is no urgency to me to pay them back at all. I'd suggest you talk to a certified financial planner--paying back student loans too early is a bad idea.

Interesting that you did the professional degree & PhD combo...I'm in the midst of that right now, though with medicine instead of law.

 

[ktbubster]

Yeah.. I checked into that. There is no early payment penalty at all. If I were to pay them back after getting a mysterious inheritance from some relative I didn't know about in one chunk that would be AOK and I'd have no penalty for anything like that. (yes I actually used that example when talking to someone about it as well as some actual real examples too)

I guess I'll talk to the financial people at the school again about it. The low interest rate and extended payment stuff isn't bad. I would like to be able to have some in savings when I work too, so I can get some put away for a house/condo later as I think that would be a better investment to be paying into first and foremost over bigger loan payments perhaps.

Thanks for that advice. I read through the other thread that someone mentioned and other then a long fight between two people about an online school. It seems like my 40k loan debt was pretty small in a lot of cases.

Although I wish it wasn't all private, but in my situation there were no other options (fafsa failed me, and my parents paid as much as they could, as well as this is after scholarship and grant money I got as well)

It was basically my last 2 years paid through loans. Thank god I was IN STATE!

And Duke - that's not a bad way to be Looks like I'll be making about 30-40k a year for a while after school, luckily after a few years in that should increase to a decent 60+ a year I think i'll be ok.

 

[Naimfan]

KT--

If you can consolidate at a low interest rate, it is more efficient to make minimum student loan payments and to invest every cent you can. As I said, talk to a CFP (Certified Financial Planner). Interview several--get names from friends, family, former professors, etc. Then pick the one who you think is the most "real."

Not my field at all, but my father is a CFP and his advice was to make the minimum payment on student loans since the interest rates are so low. Also, they are discharged if you die. (At least the federally backed ones--I don't know about private ones.) And DO save--do not send every spare penny you have to the SL people.

Good luck!

 

[ktbubster]

Thanks for the great advice Definitely something I hadn't really thought about before. I'll look into that as soon as I can next semester

Definitely open to more input. I'm sure there are other people out there who want to let out some stress for their loans. I think this actually makes me feel better.

 

[X5-452]

I already owe the government 20 thousand dollars. Ugh. The worst is that I still have a few years left to go. So... I fear I'll owe them about 32-35k. Siiiiiick, innit? Unfortunately, I'll have to go all the way and get my stupid PhD Doctorate before I even make any money, so I'll be living off KD while I try to pay for my education for a long time.

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

It all depends on the interest rates that you're paying. Some of my student loans are in the neighborhood of 10%, another set is about 6.8%. I don't expect that investments that I would make would be higher than those interest rates.

About two-thirds of my student loans are at around 4.5%. I feel fairly confident that I could make investments that would be higher ROI than 4.5%. So when the other student loans are paid off, I will begin investing more (even in the meantime, I am saving for the proverbial rainy day).

Always pursue the highest ROI. If you think that your investments will have a higher ROI than the interest that you are paying on loans, then invest.