<p>Is it worth it to graduate ND with over 100k in debt? Have graduates been able to pay large loans like this?</p>
<p>I’m not sure it’s worth it to graduate from any undergraduate program with over $100K in debt, unless someone has an alternative way of getting the debt paid off, such as long-term assistance from parents or other older relatives.</p>
<p>I agree with notjoe, don’t take on that kind of debt for undergrad. </p>
<p>Ditto – don’t take on that kind of debt. </p>
<p>We were at ND yesterday. In their prospective student presentation, they said they try to keep student debt upon graduation at or under 25K.</p>
<p>I think by that what they actually mean is they offer the students themselves 25k in loans. Whatever else they offer you in merit & need aid, plus the 25k in student loans is their total offer and if that doesn’t meet the cost then you need to come up with the rest via parent plus loans, other loans, outside scholarships, etc.</p>
<p>What are your other options? $100,000 debt for an undergraduate degree is an awful lot. Especially if you have any aspirations to do graduate work. </p>
<p>No, Cskitty, it’s not $25k per year. It’s 25k TOTAL for the four years. From my perspective as a parent, I think that’s reasonable. We were pleasantly surprised by how much in scholarship $ ND offered my son, and it puts him in a position to graduate with about 25k total in loans. </p>
<p>MarkBR, I was under the impression that ND gave very little scholarship $ (which may still be true). If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of scholarship aid did ND offer your son (type of aid, not $ amount).</p>
<p>MarkBR I am not sure I understand. Isn’t the question whether it is worth graduating with over $100,000 in debt? </p>
<p>When it is stated that Notre Dame tries to keep student debt to just under $25,000, it means that Notre Dame will not offer a student more than approximately $6,000 or so a year in subsidized and unsubsidized loans. That statement doesn’t take into account the other personal loans a student may need in addition to what ND offers to pay for their education. So yes, it is possible to graduate with over $100,000 in debt as my son, who graduated from ND in 2012, has a friend in exactly that situation. Is it worth it? No, absolutely not. Unless you go into investment banking, the starting salaries for college graduates are just not that high at the moment and that limits the student’s ability to pay off the debt in a timely and reasonable manner. Yes, Notre Dame was very generous to my son regarding his financial aid and he graduated with approximately $22,000 in loans but he was fortunate as his grandfather and his parents were able to contribute a significant portion towards his tuition. Not every one is as fortunate and no one should carry a debt of over $100,000 after they graduate. No college is worth it.</p>
<p>And by the way, I am currently in the process of sending my 5th child to college so I have had quite a bit of experience with financial aid and college debt and I am pretty knowledgeable with the topic. I have 2 kids who have graduated and a senior who will be graduating from college in May so I am very familiar with the current job market and what salaries are being offered to recent college graduates. Based on that, I will reiterate that it is not worth graduating from college with $100,000 in debt.</p>
<p>I agree that it is not worth it for a student to take out$100K in debt that s/he is responsible for repaying. A parent…that’s another story. It’ s not easy to get $100k in debt as a teen/young adult anyways without parental involvement. That’s $4K in interest alone at the lower Direct Loan levels. </p>
<p>Strongly agree that in 2014 $100 K is too much debt for a ND graduate. Med school graduate maybe. But not an undergrad. $25 K seems to be about right as the upper limit of debt for an undergrad. </p>
<p>The thing is , I 'm seeing, and have been seeing a lot of kids going back to school for grad or prof school, as they become more aware of the job interests and market. It does take time to get a handle on that. My son’s gf is back in school for an OT master’s, Could not get into a state program, so she’s going private, which means loans. But she has NO UG loans. that makes this doable without really getting into dire straits. Imagine doing it with a $100K loan monkey on your back cranking up the interest every single day.</p>
<p>I live in Illinois where our best state school, u of I, costs at least 25K per year and they offer ZERO financial aid for a smart, middle class, white suburban kid. So if I’m looking at 100k anyway to go to my state school, might as well aim higher and go to ND and hope for scholarships to help. Btw, when everyone is talking about whether it’s “worth it” to end up with debt, college is not just trade school and job training. There is a lot that happens at college to build your character and shape you as a human and contributing member of society. If an expensive school does a good job of that, then I do think it can be worth it. </p>
<h1>shariross - You have to be realistic - if you major in psychology at ND and come out with 100K in loans, would you be prepared to start paying off that debt upon graduation with that type of degree or would your parents be stuck with it? You gotta consider all aspect, major, etc… A graduate of Carnegie Mellon with a degree on Comp Sci is more prepared to pay off that debt than an ND graduate in psychology. No it’s not trade school, but our economy and job market is just so fragile, is it worth taking the chance of putting you an possibly your parents in so much debt? Don’t know your situation but you should talk to your parents. My son made a choice NOT to be in debt of 100K and pick a school that we could afford to send him to (40K out of pocket for us a year). Went to accepted student day at a school that would cost 60K a year. He/we decided it wasn’t worth the extra 80k that he/we would have to come up with over 4 years. We were all practical about it. I know he would have loved the school that would cost us 60K a year BUT he wasn’t prepared to be saddled with so much debt and he’s going to major in engineering which is typically a good paying career. Just be reasonable and practical, and don’t get emotionally attached. Good Luck!</h1>
<p>Shariross - I went to college. Many other of the posters on this forum have also been to college. We know exactly what college entails as we have experienced it. You should just listen to what the other posters are saying about the value of college and decide whether or not you want to take their advice. No one is saying not to go to Notre Dame or any other expensive college. We were talking about whether or not it was worth the $100,00+ debt one may incur by attending these schools due to a student’s financial status. A Notre Dame degree (or any other college degree) doesn’t hold the golden key to obtaining a high paying job upon graduation. I am from the state of Illinois and I feel your pain about not getting any financial aid from our state school. If you find a school that is comparable to Illinois in what you will be paying to attend, then you should definitely look into it. But a $100,000 debt is probably on the smaller spectrum of debt that you would be graduating with from Notre Dame as the cost to attend is currently about $60,000 so unless you will be receiving $35,000+ in scholarships from them annually, your debt will be even greater that $100,00. I don’t know your financial situation but if this debt is solely your debt, then I would once again say that it is not worth the over $100,000 to attend any school.</p>
<p>Shariross, where do you think you will get $100K to borrow for college as a teen and young adult? Only the fed government and parents are foolish enough to take that kind of risk. Look at the 4 year grad rates for UI and other ug colleges, if you can even find them, and you can see what a great investment that is. You can get $27K in loans for Direct Loans for all four years $5500 freshman year, without parental involvement. Anything else, your school might throw in hard to get Perkins loans the avg of which is under $2K a year for the very few schools that even offer them. So even if you wanted to borrow that $100K to go to UI, you aren’t likely to be able to do it.</p>
<p>For those kids whose parents won’t or can’t come up with the money that the schools say they have to pay, you stay at home, find a part time job and commute to a local state school or CC. Borrow some of the Direct Loan entitlement if one has to do so, and if family is low enough income, Pell money might be forthcoming. UI-UC, by the way costs a whole lot more than the mid $20K range for those living at the school Illinois has one of the most expensive costs when it comes to state schools for instaters, shame on the state. Sleep away college is a luxury. Who do you think should be paying for student’s living expenses? For the primo students that a school most wants , they may give out merit money, and some schools do have good financial aid, but most of the cost is something parents are supposed to pay. Private schools? Why the heck the government is even paying a part of that cost, I don’t know, but of course your parents are on the hook for that cost. Who would you have expected would have paid for you to go to boarding school during k-12 years, or to private schools? There is more money avaialble for college out there, but do stick to the basic principles and not carried away here. </p>
<p>Notre Dame, these days, to live at the school, and full pay costs about a quarter million dollars. They do guarantee to meet full need, but they define that need. For sleep away schools, your family is almost certainly going to have to pay, at very least the FAFSA EFC, and likely more, before getting penny one of any aid, other than the guarantee of the Direct Loans which I discussed above and PELL for low income folks. Those are the two entitlements.</p>
<p>A scary trend I am seeing is that a lot of kids are graduating from these expensive schools with a lot of debt, usually with their parents’ credit records and word on the line, and they don’t find jobs. I know many ND grads who are under and unemployed here as I am well entrenched in Catholic schooldom. It’s not like the ND degree guarantees squat. I know a lot of Ivy league and other highly selective school grads in the same boat. Not a bad situation those early years, if the parents, the family can give a lot of support. Most of these grads do find their way in a few years, but many will do so wanting to go to grad and prof school Not a good option when you are already 6 figures in debt for that ug degree, and not an option at all if you are in default or other not good status with it, cuz ya ain’t gonna be able to borrow for grad school, not that it even should be an option when you are so over your head with debt already. And if your parents signed the loan papers too, well, … those lenders could not care less about your situation, going back to school, no job, or even if you are dead. That’s why they wanted the parents to cosign—to have them by the yingyang. And the interest keeps right on churning even with those subsidized loans after you are out of college. Also when you are down on your heels and have little or no work, it’s a big deal NOT to have loan payments due. I have two kids who are not exactly financial successes, but they can meet their rent and expenses, because they have no debts. Worse come to worse, they can come home and live with me–I can stick them somewhere in the house, and don’t begrudge them the food . But we would be hard pressed to pay back school loans for them.</p>
<p>If you can get into ND you can get scholarships at other great schools, including top 40 LAC’s. The cost of ND was too much for me, so I took to full-ride to a top LAC.</p>