<p>I am a college senior attending an Indiana University campus. I get in-state tuition rates because I live there. I am a BSBA major w/no concentration (I have shown above average skill in my management and economics classes though). I plan on graduating with around $25,000 in debt give or take a few thousand. I have a professional certification in retail management which I believe will help distinguish me a little. Grad school is out of the question so please don't suggest that. Overall I feel OKAY about my debt and I feel great about my choice of major. My questions are: 1. Will a business administration degree make me a better candidate for a career in this economy than other majors? 2. Is the $25,000 debt manageable? The debt would be at interest rates set by the Dept. of Education. None of the money would have an interest rate above 5%. Thanks for your help. O:-) </p>
<p>That was about my debt load when I came out of undergrad. Honestly, debt is never good, but $20-$30K is about the average and represents the maximum that anyone should borrow for most degrees and schools. To get more of a sense of what that means for you personally, what I would do is use Google to find a loan payment calculator and plug in $25,000 and an average interest rate for your loans and see how much you would have to shell out per month for that. I usually use bankrate.com but there are a lot of different ones out there and they are all pretty easy to use. When you get the number, bear in mind that your first job’s after-tax income will also have to cover rent, utilities, food, phone bill, entertainment, insurance, gas, car payments, etc. in addition to the student loan payment. </p>
<p>I am totally with you on graduate school. I do have an MSA/MAcc but it was only because my school offered it as a five year program for CPA candidates. Conventional wisdom is to not even get an MBA or similar degree unless an employer is paying to send you there and you want it for a specific career goal or position requirement.</p>
<p>Business administration is a good degree in my opinion. My bias is that as an accounting and management information systems person I view it as too general, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that and business administration does give you some flexibility and general business knowledge that employers who recruit out of colleges often want. </p>
<p>I have a personal budget already mapped out for my future. I plan on making between $30,000-$35,000 annually before taxes straight out of college. The loan payment comes out to just shy of $300/month. I am also aware that a business administration degree is somewhat general, but this was my best option. The IU campus I attended previously had concentrations I liked (Business Economics, and General Management) but the tuition and room & board got way too expensive after financial issues rose. So now this new campus is fine and everything, but they only have concentrations in accounting, MIS, and finance. I hate anything involving accounting that is not basic bookkeeping, and MIS is way too difficult for me because I am not a technology person. But luckily they offer the degree with no concentration. Because my concentrations at my old school were not available here, I had to make the best choice which is what I did. Thanks for the help!</p>