<p>How much debt would you parents think is a reasonable amount to graduate with (for undergrad)? </p>
<p>I would appreciate any stories about how much debt you had to take on for school and how it turned out.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Here’s recent thread on the subject:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/657126-how-much-debt-allow.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/657126-how-much-debt-allow.html</a></p>
<p>I wouldn’t let my children take out more than $10,000 a year in loans. </p>
<p>I came out of school (undergrad and law school) with $21,000 in loans, but that was over 25 years ago. I received no help from my parents and I didn’t qualify for financial aid; back then it was possible, by going to an inexpensive school and working a lot of hours, to get out with a reasonable amount of loans. I’m not sure what the equivalent of my loans would be today, but to put it into perspective, at the time it was roughly half the starting salary of a first year associate at a top NY law firm. My husband came out with over $100,000 in loans. Fortunately we both had well paying jobs and repaid the loans in pretty short order, but had either of us wanted to take a public service job or something not as lucrative, that would not have been an option.</p>
<p>"Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has raised associate base salaries, with first-years now set to earn $160,000 before bonus.</p>
<p>The New York firm’s move, announced internally Monday, comes less than a year after an earlier round of salary increases boosted first-year salaries in the city to $145,000 from the $125,000 that had been standard for several years prior. "</p>
<p>So that would mean a loan ceiling of $80K, based on last year’s starting salaries. Of course, maybe starting salaries are lower this year…</p>
<p>mdoc–we must be of the same generation! I remember our starting salary was $40K a year, which seemed a fortune back then!</p>