You can get a doctorate in Coffee-making?
I keed, I keed
Actually...going for that second doctorate...Doctorate Baristus...now!
The heck with this shrink stuff....
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How much debt did you incur after college?
- Thread starter 63dot
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Actually...going for that second doctorate...Doctorate Baristus...now!
The heck with this shrink stuff....
I'm another one who graduated with no debt. BS '96, MS '99. Had a bit of tuition assistance and scholarships the first round and an assistantship the second. My Masters cost me about $2000 by the time I was done - my assistantship ran out and I had one more semester to finish my thesis.
I knew guys who were funding college on credit cards and loans. Most of them were Computer Science majors. Several went to California for paid internships one summer and never came back...
I knew guys who were funding college on credit cards and loans. Most of them were Computer Science majors. Several went to California for paid internships one summer and never came back...
0 debt for me. Got lucky in that my parents planned ahead and had some money stashed away to pay for some/most of my Bachelors. I covered all living expenses and books for the entire 4 years, and I ended up paying for the last year of school myself. Still extremely lucky.
In Australia we have something called the HECS debt. Where you can defer your payment until after you graduate but you have to up front some of the fee at the beginning of your course. I am still currently paying mine off. Course was at least $20,000. More then half paid off though.
I am reading some of your posts here and you guys have been incredibly lucky to not incur any debt during your college or even after. Kudos!
I am reading some of your posts here and you guys have been incredibly lucky to not incur any debt during your college or even after. Kudos!
Congrats, you are almost there. If you didn't make back that fifteen grand you already paid off from higher pay, you will someday and it will all have seemed pretty quick in terms of comparing it to your whole life. Of course 18K from 1984 would have been a different thing as 18K is today. I take it from current students, that amount only pays for one semester in some schools.
Few things in life could be as satisfying as paying this student loan off. Even when I didn't finish grad school and paid some of that first year off with credit cards (several thousand) and decided not to take on many thousands more for second year, it hurt to see that many digits owed on card. I had saved up ten grand already but that didn't go far and didn't pay off that first year with courses about $1,500 dollars a pop.
I could have gone federal loan but then I didn't want to commit to whole thing and $20 or 30 grand in debt. Hindsight says IF I had stayed in big city and IF I took on likely better job, I would have paid it all off in a few years assuming IF I got lucky enough to find Bay Area housing that wasn't obscene. One friend of mine pays ten grand a month for rent in SF for wife and baby to give him access to lofty $150K high tech job and there's no foreseeable way he thinks he can take on student loan. If he moves to lesser area, then rent goes down but so does pay. It's really hard to take on huge student loans, even in good majors.
But the several grand I put on credit card, with 10% percent interest or so back then, felt like an insurmountable amount of debt. Being that I had never been more than $500 dollars in debt for anything before that before my 20s, I didn't sleep well at night. Mind you, this was the 1990s, but even a few thousand debt hurt and when I paid if off, it felt great and as great as finishing high school, getting a car, and finishing a bachelor's degree. I was staring at either keeping up with typical Bay Area college grad, who have master's degrees in percentages most have bachelor's degrees in other cities, or living in a smaller market where bachelor's was typical college education for most but far less pay.
Mayor Ed Lee predicted that the cost of living for city had grown to where a minimum wage worker needs to make $22 dollars an hour to live in city similar to what a minimum wage worker did in the past as in the 1980s. The city only approved a gradual increase to $18 dollars and hour for minimum wage. Unless the cost of living gets under control around these parts, student loans don't look to be paid off very soon. With rent, high costs of goods, and other factors, one would have to make $200K a year (but in highest tax bracket) to pay off student loans from expensive schools. This year by year increase in cost of school over rest of economy has become unmanageable and we may see percentage of population with degrees dip for first time ever. With this trajectory, the middle class may be out of reach for a four year degree without loans that will make it hard to pay it all over before age 40.
Right now, this poll shows only 42% percent getting out without collge debt. Ten years ago, that number may have been considerably higher. Twenty, thirty, forty years ago, college debt would have been seen as just another bill to pay off and not a millstone around one's neck. What do you think this poll will look like in ten years?
With a typical hs grad making $650 dollars against a master's degree earner making $1,300 dollars (2012-2013 numbers), how many weeks is that after tax and living expenses to pay off $50+ grand in college debt? Those types of stats kept me from being brave enough to take the federal student loan plunge. Had I been going for an MD or dentist school, then I could easily see the advantage but short of that, years and decades paying off a single loan that's not a home loan is not in my comfort zone.
Last edited:
Ask me in another 2 years for undergrad debt and (hopefully) another 4 years after that for dental school debt.
No debt.
Im from that generation when all education was free, up to and including University degree.
Im from that generation when all education was free, up to and including University degree.
I feel like there's a lot of old timers and non US citizens skewing these results
I graduated in May 2011 with $34,000ish in debt. It is now down to ~$25,000. I've lump sum paid off a few little loans and there's two small ones left ($3,400 and $3,700 respectively) before the two heavy hitters left.
I went to an expensive out of state private university in Chicago. With the combination of scholarships/school aid, great financial aid (only $3,000 in loans), and a tuition payment plan, I made it by just fine freshman year (2007-08). During the second semester, the recession hit Michigan. Step dad lost his job, dad was part of the UAW/AAM strike that resulted in his wages being nearly cut in half (then bought out). Instead of transferring out, I stayed on and maxed out my Subsidized/Unsubsidized Stafford Loans the next three years.
The most annoying part was I didn't know what to major in, so I studied what I enjoyed, History, with a thought of law school. That industry was/is tanking, plus I wasn't fully committed, so I held off on going that route. Working a few years affirmed my love for numbers as much as words, so I'm going back to school for Accounting part time, at a cheap community college, paying solely out of pocket.
Hindsight says I should've just stayed local the entire time or returned to MI after the freshman year financial fallout, but it was so hard thinking about leaving all of my friends and school that I loved. Combined with my (nearly useless) degree, I probably should've just stayed in state, but I enjoy the experiences I got in Chicago (and eventually Rome for a study abroad) that I never would've got at home or in Michigan.
I graduated in May 2011 with $34,000ish in debt. It is now down to ~$25,000. I've lump sum paid off a few little loans and there's two small ones left ($3,400 and $3,700 respectively) before the two heavy hitters left.
I went to an expensive out of state private university in Chicago. With the combination of scholarships/school aid, great financial aid (only $3,000 in loans), and a tuition payment plan, I made it by just fine freshman year (2007-08). During the second semester, the recession hit Michigan. Step dad lost his job, dad was part of the UAW/AAM strike that resulted in his wages being nearly cut in half (then bought out). Instead of transferring out, I stayed on and maxed out my Subsidized/Unsubsidized Stafford Loans the next three years.
The most annoying part was I didn't know what to major in, so I studied what I enjoyed, History, with a thought of law school. That industry was/is tanking, plus I wasn't fully committed, so I held off on going that route. Working a few years affirmed my love for numbers as much as words, so I'm going back to school for Accounting part time, at a cheap community college, paying solely out of pocket.
Hindsight says I should've just stayed local the entire time or returned to MI after the freshman year financial fallout, but it was so hard thinking about leaving all of my friends and school that I loved. Combined with my (nearly useless) degree, I probably should've just stayed in state, but I enjoy the experiences I got in Chicago (and eventually Rome for a study abroad) that I never would've got at home or in Michigan.
I feel like there's a lot of old timers and non US citizens skewing these results
I graduated in May 2011 with $34,000ish in debt. It is now down to ~$25,000. I've lump sum paid off a few little loans and there's two small ones left ($3,400 and $3,700 respectively) before the two heavy hitters left.
I went to an expensive out of state private university in Chicago. With the combination of scholarships/school aid, great financial aid (only $3,000 in loans), and a tuition payment plan, I made it by just fine freshman year (2007-08). During the second semester, the recession hit Michigan. Step dad lost his job, dad was part of the UAW/AAM strike that resulted in his wages being nearly cut in half (then bought out). Instead of transferring out, I stayed on and maxed out my Subsidized/Unsubsidized Stafford Loans the next three years.
The most annoying part was I didn't know what to major in, so I studied what I enjoyed, History, with a thought of law school. That industry was/is tanking, plus I wasn't fully committed, so I held off on going that route. Working a few years affirmed my love for numbers as much as words, so I'm going back to school for Accounting part time, at a cheap community college, paying solely out of pocket.
Hindsight says I should've just stayed local the entire time or returned to MI after the freshman year financial fallout, but it was so hard thinking about leaving all of my friends and school that I loved. Combined with my (nearly useless) degree, I probably should've just stayed in state, but I enjoy the experiences I got in Chicago (and eventually Rome for a study abroad) that I never would've got at home or in Michigan.
Yeah I've felt that unless you got a full ride you should stay in state for at least an undergraduate degree. Just not financially smart going out of state for a bachelors. Like I said earlier a friend if mines daughter will have around 250k in loans for a bachelors in music. Really?
I'm a college senior now, graduating this upcoming May with a B.A. in Journalism/Strategic Communications, and my loan debt is looking like it's going to be around $25-26k - all federal subsidized and un-subsidized loans. This is for a 4 year state university that isn't terribly expensive (tuition usually runs about $4,500 a semester).
Not too horrible compared to a lot of other students I know...
I could have avoided college debt completely by living at home with my parents and commuting to school, but to me the experience (and not having to live with my parents, because reasons) was worth the debt I took on to pay first for living on campus and then an off campus apartment.
Thanks to the Texas Tomorrow/Texas Guaranteed Tuition plan all of my tuition is covered up to 120 credit hours so I'll only end up paying 1-3 hours out of pocket. Probably the best financial decision my dad ever made was enrolling in that back when they still offered it, otherwise I have no idea how I'd be able to pay for school.
Honestly, I'm not too horrifically worried about paying off my loans after leaving college. I'm going into what looks like a stable/growing industry (advertising) that pays pretty well.
Not too horrible compared to a lot of other students I know...
I could have avoided college debt completely by living at home with my parents and commuting to school, but to me the experience (and not having to live with my parents, because reasons) was worth the debt I took on to pay first for living on campus and then an off campus apartment.
Thanks to the Texas Tomorrow/Texas Guaranteed Tuition plan all of my tuition is covered up to 120 credit hours so I'll only end up paying 1-3 hours out of pocket. Probably the best financial decision my dad ever made was enrolling in that back when they still offered it, otherwise I have no idea how I'd be able to pay for school.
Honestly, I'm not too horrifically worried about paying off my loans after leaving college. I'm going into what looks like a stable/growing industry (advertising) that pays pretty well.
I feel like there's a lot of old timers and non US citizens skewing these results
I graduated in May 2011 with $34,000ish in debt. It is now down to ~$25,000. I've lump sum paid off a few little loans and there's two small ones left ($3,400 and $3,700 respectively) before the two heavy hitters left.
I went to an expensive out of state private university in Chicago. With the combination of scholarships/school aid, great financial aid (only $3,000 in loans), and a tuition payment plan, I made it by just fine freshman year (2007-08). During the second semester, the recession hit Michigan. Step dad lost his job, dad was part of the UAW/AAM strike that resulted in his wages being nearly cut in half (then bought out). Instead of transferring out, I stayed on and maxed out my Subsidized/Unsubsidized Stafford Loans the next three years.
The most annoying part was I didn't know what to major in, so I studied what I enjoyed, History, with a thought of law school. That industry was/is tanking, plus I wasn't fully committed, so I held off on going that route. Working a few years affirmed my love for numbers as much as words, so I'm going back to school for Accounting part time, at a cheap community college, paying solely out of pocket.
Hindsight says I should've just stayed local the entire time or returned to MI after the freshman year financial fallout, but it was so hard thinking about leaving all of my friends and school that I loved. Combined with my (nearly useless) degree, I probably should've just stayed in state, but I enjoy the experiences I got in Chicago (and eventually Rome for a study abroad) that I never would've got at home or in Michigan.
I am one of the old timers so I think I skewed things along with other 40+ year old people. My age pretty much made me accidentally make this poll show too small of a range.
I think generally more people are completing degrees, but those degrees are tending to cost more per student, and thus the overall debt per person may start to get unmanageable. There may be a certain point where some will go for the trades or other routes, but so far the now expensive college route seems to be growing each year.
When I was in the same place as you where I could have transferred to a cheaper school, I also didn't and what debt I did get (plus spending all cash reserves) happened because I liked my school and the people. I was excited about classes, the students, and the subject matter and this was all in great contrast to the drudgery I felt about K-12. But I sometimes think I could have done it differently and with the money saved (as my program and cheaper state funded ones were virtually the same) and done something more practical. What if I saved the money and did a cheaper route and used the saving for an IRA? Heck, what if I had used the savings for Apple stock? When I hear stories about a kid who did a hard to hire type of liberal arts degree (kind of like mine) but are in debt over $100K, I shudder to think what their life will be like once they have to pay back.
Yes, it feels good to achieve something like that and have a piece of paper that nobody can take away from you, but the novelty of that kind of wears off when you are several years into paying off a large student loan like my wife did. She graduated 30+ years ago with a nice art degree but usually didn't find work in the field. The debt, probably close to 25 grand in today's money, was a bear to pay off with working a job(s) most hs grads could find, or working jobs that require that BFA in a society who thinks it's a good idea to pay artists and musicians very little money.
But with an advanced degree like dentistry or medicine where most end up working in the field and paying off their loans with a high rate of success, it may be OK. But with something equally expensive, like law school, but in that field where many burn out very early and don't make a long term set of high earning years, it's again really hard to pay back. Some of the PhD students of marine biology over here (Stanford Hopkins) talk about how much they love their field, but they all complain that they will NEVER be able to pay off student loans, and grad students of the graduate language school also echo a similar financial doom with the 6 year training they pay for in return for being terribly underpaid on average in language related careers.
Last edited:
I'm in my undergrad now. I'm hoping for around 35k. Maybe less if I can. I'm going to be making $200/mo payments while in school to keep the overall debt low.
This thread is scary...
This thread is scary...
I'm in my undergrad now. I'm hoping for around 35k. Maybe less if I can. I'm going to be making $200/mo payments while in school to keep the overall debt low.
This thread is scary...
Without getting into PRSI, I think this is a very good reason for the US to start diverting monies and energy from foreign wars to education. Not only will there be virtually no body count by getting out of and staying out of wars, we could have Uncle Sam pay for all college and make it free, or close to free, and still have plenty of money left over. I venture to say we could do all this and also pay off the national debt.
There may reach a point of complete outrage where student debt and a nation's very low financial commitment to education will make people vote for candidates who promise money for schools, not guns. I think we can secure more financial security in this country if we have more graduates, and more without crushing debt, and trade that for the little savings we get for sending troops to oil rich areas in unstoppable wars.
What money we may have to spend for slightly more expensive gas will be there for us to spend when we don't have to spend most of our 20s, and even 30s using a part of our paycheck always paying off a student loan.
A transfer of priorities for our country from war to education will eventually pay off for everyone.
At graduation (long ago) I had around $4500 in loan debt but paid it off immediately with money that I'd been saving for that purpose through my 5 years of college. I actually came out a little ahead since the bank paid interest on the account and the loan interest didn't start to accumulate until after graduation
Amazing! I want you as my financial adviser. Are you tripling or quadrupling up on your payments? I know a girl who went to nursing school and acquired over $25K in debt and with just slightly over minimum wage jobs paid it all off in a few years. Add to that she somehow never had credit card debt in her 30+ years.
Your friend's success in paying off her loans is far more impressive than mine. My job, thankfully, is not minimum wage, so it's amazing that she was able to accomplish that. I simply try to make as big of an extra payment on my loans as I can each month (which is in addition to the minimum payment that automatically deducts from my checking account monthly). I live a relatively spartan lifestyle, so I have extra money to rid myself of the debt. Other folks would probably buy things like beds to put their mattresses on. I will focus on those luxuries afterward the loans are finished.
So far these poll responses aren't exactly painting the picture of students saddled with debt.....
<$5,000 for me. I had to borrow money to pay for part of one semester of graduate school that I paid off before the first payment was due.
<$5,000 for me. I had to borrow money to pay for part of one semester of graduate school that I paid off before the first payment was due.