<p>So, questions about "is the debt worth it" seem to be a very common question on these forums. Each individual can opine as to the worth, but the numbers behind it get confusing and you really only get tools from the lender that forecast the total cost (which is a glaring COI in my opinion). Bearing that in mind, I'd like to offer my services in actually forecasting these costs. Post/pm me your scenarios and I'll do what I can</p>
<p>By how much would you expect the sticker price COA to rise in the next 4 years?</p>
<p>Thanks for doing this, SCHedgie! I’ll get this started then and provide my info so people don’t feel nervous, give an example of what a full degree course might have in loans, and so we have some numbers to crunch in various ways.</p>
<p>I did 4 years of undergrad, plus one year of grad school. I just graduated in May, so my loans are currently in their grace period. They are:
$5500 subsidized at 3.4%
$5500 subsidized at 4.5%
$4500 subsidized at 5.6%
$20500 unsubsidized at 6.8%, with $900 accrued interest</p>
<p>A couple example questions then:
- Assuming I want to pay off these loans in, say 10 years, what sort of income should I have? How about paying them off in 5 years? 20 years?
- This is the “is grad school worth it for the money?” question. Assume the grad school unsubsidized loan isn’t there. How much less income do I need to pay off just the undergrad loans in 10 years?</p>