<p>I just signed up for financial aide recently, filling out the FAFSA, and I received information on federal loans like the Stafford Loan and Direct Plus Loan. In looking at the details it seems that it may not actually be worth it. On one of these loans when reading through the information on the promissory note the fees were really high. It would be $180 a month and you would end up paying about twice what you borrowed. That doesn't much seem worth it to me to end up with such a huge amount to have to repay and then a huge amount to have to pay each month. I mean, unless you are certain that once you graduate you are going to move directly into a job and one that pays really well. There are certain career choices that if you were to get a degree in that area it may not be very easy to get a job (it may take time and hard work to land the job) and then you would end up owing a huge amount and the monthly payment they expect that you couldn't pay because you didn't get a job.
I'm wanting to study music business and technology with some emphasis on entrepreneurship, but that doesn't exactly seem like something that once I get the degree I'll be able to easily get a job. It seems that it would be a bit tough and even going the entrepreneur route it would take a lot of time and effort to build something up, which would mean getting another job in the meantime. In doing so it may not allow me to pay that high of a monthly repayment amount and it would be about 10 years of paying that per month to get it paid off. So, what I'm saying in all this is that is it really worth it in the end?</p>
<p>What did you think loans meant? Of course they have to be repaid. But you should definitely minimize them as much as you can, for the very reasons you mention.</p>
<p>How will you pay for college if you do not take the loans. A small amount of loans may be reasonable depending on your job prospects. $180 a month is not bad (assuming that is for you full 4 years worth of loans). My son pays about $100 a month on his loans, but he is earning 5 times what he earned before he went back to finish school (after dropping out for a while). And he has a tech qualification, not a bachelors. My daughter will probably have about twice that, but will probably not earn what he does even though she will have a bachelors.</p>
<p>Many people recommend you limit your total education loans to the amount allowed for Stafford (~$27K for the four years).</p>