<p>These days, I've been thinking a lot about college debt. I'll probably have around 100k in debt by the time I graduate. I've heard of people who's under financial burden for a long time because of college debt. On top of that, my family isn't well-off financially. It's to the point that I'm thinking about transferring (for the second time) to a state school so I can get a less expensive education (I'm at a top-5 undergrad business program right now). What are my options? Is it possible at all to pay off the debt and have money to save? Maybe a top-notch job? I'm sort of lost. What are my options? Any input or comments?</p>
<p>It probably makes a big difference what your future earning opportunites are based on your career. Having said that I personally would strongly discourage my children from taking on such a debt. If it were one of my kids I would want them to transfer to a less expensive college. I read an article (may have been from a CC post) a while ago where it said that one does not neccessarily have to graduate from a top program to make money in business. maybe you can google company CEOs or something and see if you can find statistics.</p>
<p>You should crunch some numbers to see where you will stand. There are many online calculators that will give you monthly payment information for loans. Then look for salary ranges for whatever job you are preparing for.
It should be fairly clear when you compare what you may be earning and what you will owe on your loans if you can do it or not.</p>
<p>100K is a LOT of debt, even for an established, older adult. I wouldn't encourage my kids to attend a school that required saddling them with that kind of debt.</p>
<p>That's a home mortgage without the home. I would really think hard before taking that kind of debt on in an undergrad setting.</p>
<p>No undergrad education is worth $100,000 in debt. As Opie said, that's a house. Or 4 new SUVs. You will not be "marriage material" as long as you are that far in the hole.</p>
<p>Consider that the maximum amount of guaranteed loans you can get, i.e., loans that the government is willing to guarantee you will be able to pay, is about $20,000.</p>
<p>Settle for the next best education that leaves you only $20,000 in debt. That is your better choice.</p>
<p>Stay at the school. A top 5 business program(ranked nationally) is going to open more doors than saving 40-60k now. Why? There's a skew in difference of earning potential for top 1-10 and 11-25 and 25+ business programs across the nation. At a top 10 there are probably three times more 100k/year(including bonus) job postings than at a 11-25 and probably 10times more than at a 25+. You might be satisfied.</p>
<p>Business degrees are much different than history degrees. You want to go where there is more opportunity. And that is at a top 10. It pays off, check the statistics at both schools before making a decision.</p>
<p>Going to b-school at an ivy or top 10 institution is worth its weight in gold. The next best thing would be a 11-25 program with a good geographical location for the type of work that you want to do. Top flight firms go to HYSP to recruit. Then they go geographically to recruit (ie los angeles(UCLA,USC), new york(NYU), san francisco(berkeley), chicago(uchi)).</p>
<p>Leaving a top 10 institution could be the worst/best thing you could ever do. I'd seriously put some research and determine what is the best situation for yourself. Is the field that you're entering very lucrative for your school's graduates? If not, then saving the money is probably the best thing to do. But if you're trying to become a consultant, stay at the top 5.</p>
<p>The thing I would certainly check is the career centers at both schools. Compare the summer internships available and you'll understand why a top 5 program is a top 5 program.</p>
<p>I have to agree with JPN, stay with the top school, the "old boy network still thrives- believe me it matters when you are applying for a job in finance. ( definitely not for most other fields ) I worked with a smaller Wall St firm and we were paying our STARTING asst fund managers 150k plus year end bonuses of 25K and up depending on your performance. Stay single and work hard and you can pay those loans off pretty quickly!!</p>
<p>I was a computer programmer/analyst at an insurance company for years and that company wouldn't consider giving an interview to candidates (for finance jobs) unless they were from a select list of schools. I remember that well. Same thinking applied to getting an MBA (which I was about to start). I was told that any old school's MBA didn't count for much. It needed to be from one of the top schools... not sure if this was a unique situation, but I doubt it.</p>
<p>You need to do some homework to see what the degree is worth. And I don't mean cherry picking the top kids' offers, but what someone with your stats is likely to get. My husband hired kids out of school for several big time finance and consulting firms, and not many kids with business majors were hired outside of Wharton and Cornell Hotel School. It was the MBAs that tended to get those jobs. And other needs were met with kids who had specific skills majors such as accounting, computer systems, math, stats, and it did not seem to matter where they went to school. It was how well they knew their subject based on specific courses and subject covered, and a very thorough interview. When it came to sales, demonstrated success counted to a point where they did not care about college at all. Connections also could help when it came to non specific skills jobs.</p>
<p>Just curious but... what school are you attending, and why would you graduate with that much debt? Most top schools have a much lower average grad debt...</p>
<p>I'm attending NYU Stern. I also transferred once already...and I don't think NYU is generous toward transfer students in terms of fin. aid.</p>
<p>At the time of transferring, it never hit me that I would have this much debt. I guess it's my fault that I brought this upon myself.</p>
<p>From what school did you transfer? Were you getting aid from there? Yes, NYU is not generous with aid, for the most part, and transfers tend to be at the bottom of the financial aid food chain for most schools. How much will you owe at the end of this school year? How much do you think you will have to borrow next year? How many more semesters do you expect to be thre before graduating? What is your major within Stern? What are your grades there? What are the job prospects and salaries that kids with your stats and major get at Stern? (find and ask the appropriate office there for the last question) Also see if there are any job placement programs there that can help you get a generous paying summer job. Then work nights and weekends over the summer at a restaraunt to bring in that money to offset costs. If at this point, it turns out to be worthwhile to stay at Stern, you are going to have to work hard to bring in more money. You are also going to have to cut your costs to a bone. Hard to do for you young people (for anyone, really) If you can get your loans down $5K even, it can make a differnce. Whether transfering is a good move for you is really a question up in the air that is going to need a good hard look at all of the facts.</p>
<p>wow - 100K is a lot of debt. I went to an OK (not great) state school (major in psych and minor in business) and my career in business has gone well. I agree that it pays to have a prestige degree when applying for investment banking or other financial services jobs. I worked at one of the top financial services companies - we would only look at graduates from the VERY top schools -Wharton, Stanford, Columbia. That said, I believe it's more the student vs the school (the research backs this up).<br>
I agree that, at the very least, you should try to get good summer jobs and keep your costs as low as possible. A transfer might be an option too - maybe you could get into the honors program at your state U??</p>
<p>You should carefully consider the impact of that debt. With the necessity of paying back the debt you may seriously limit your choices on graduation. You will be forced to take the highest paying job you can find, versus a lesser paying job that may be more satisfying or that will lead you in the direction you want to got with perhaps more potential later down the road. Sometimes a slightly lower paying job can yield bigger dividends in the future if it gets your foot in the door in a field or company you really want to be with. Just another variable to consider.</p>