<p>Is 60K-80K in debt too much to handle for an Engineer? I am a sophomore at Case Western as an electrical engineering major, and I am paying for my own college with federal and private student loans. The cost I am paying, however, is considered pretty marginal compared to the full cost of attendance, which they estimated for me to be around 48,000. Does anyone have any experience in graduating from college with this kind of debt and having to pay it off? Thanks in advance for any/all advice.</p>
<p>In my opinion...that is a HUGE amount of debt even for an engineering major. Your monthly loan payments will be close to what I pay for a mortgage (someone else here can give you an estimate of the costs). Is there any way for you to reduce some of this debt?</p>
<p>Engineers have good starting saleries compared to many careers but they raise slowly and most engineers make a middle class salary. $80K in debt is like owning a house in my home town. I would not borrow that much unless you were a very unusual engineer with a great idea for a company.</p>
<p>We have a FFELP debt of ~$60K. But I preface this amount in that we can easily afford the payments for the next 25 years. Our interest rate is much less than yours.</p>
<p>I would estimate that you could easily have a monthly payment of $800-$900/mn or more, based on a debt of ~$70,000, 25 years repayment schedule. Your early working years of will be a struggle even with an better than average EE salary. Because you will be making a better than average salary, you will probably live in a better than average apartment, a fancier car, and overall higher living expenses. In time, either your salary must increase or your debt must decrease substantially before you will feel comfortable.</p>
<p>As a sophomore, in EE, you should already know the mathematics behind my words.</p>
<p>A recent engineering grad who works with my husband had $100k debt at graduation. He seems to be able to handle his repayments along with a mortgage on a starter home & car payments. I am too risk-averse for that debt load, but everyone is different.</p>
<p>thisoldman, thanks for the advice and online calculator. However, after repeatedly doing so, I only came up with less than an $800 per month payment for 120 months (10 years). College Board recommends that payments on student loans should not exceed 10-15% of your starting income. Assuming an entry level salary of $55,000 (which is on the low end of the average starting salary for an EE at my school) and taking into account a 3% inflation and 10% interest (I have no idea what the rates are, this was just a safe estimate), that equals around 15% of my monthly income. $800 per month equates to $9600 per year, which would bring my salary down to around $46000. Of course there will be taxes, but wouldn't this student loan adjusted salary be similar to what a lot of management, accounting, and economics majors make fresh out of school? So is it really that unbearable of a debt? Unfortunately, I am a first generation college student, so my parents cannot help out at all in paying for school. In order to get a good education I must pay for it, which I guess I don't mind. Thanks for the advice guys. I am curious as to wether or not anyone else has had to deal with a similar type of situation, be it better or worse.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that your gross income will be reduced by taxes before you make choices about housing, entertainment, dining, etc.</p>
<p>I am first gen too and my parents can't help so I seek out mentors. The problem is the management track guys will have salaries that climb much faster than an engineers. They might be pinched for a couple of years, but then for good people their salaries become mulitples of what engineers make.</p>
<p>If you make $55K, you'll probably bring home somewhere in the mid to high thirties. That means a third of your income will go towards this debt. You will probably not be able to save for a down payment on a home and lenders may not loan you mortgage or car money because you have so much debt.</p>
<p>Yo make a high engineer salary you will probably need to live in an expensive place like Silicon Valley. The two thousand a month you would have left would not allow you to live well because a decent small apartment rents for $1500.</p>
<p>I'd go to a cheaper college unless it was MIT.</p>
<p>Assume today that start pay for EE. =$55000.
In Oregon (Intel) we have a nearly flat income tax of 9%. Your Federal =25% (probably 27%). Your Social Security and Medicare taxes =9.5%. We are now talking 43.% in taxes alone, and will leave you with a Net=$31,350. From this amount take your debt payments and living expenses.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to discourage you from your goals, but you should realize that debt is easy to get into and very difficult to escape. If you are funding college by loans, I'd say your blended interest rate is close to 9%. In contrast to a just a couple of years ago, the student interest rate was close to 3%, which means that the new hire that kelsmon mentions, can have 3x the loan for the same monthly payment you will be making. </p>
<p>Do everything you can to be cheap now, while enjoying the college experience. It will shorten your purgatory after you graduate.</p>
<p>The mathematics is very simple for money. Its the psychology behind money that trips people. Managers are not good engineers, they are good in psychology.</p>
<p>And honestly oldman, are there many jobs for ambitious kids in Oregon or other low cost places to live?</p>
<p>bump..im curious to see if anyone else has any advice/opinions</p>
<p>Oregon is not a inexpensive place to live. We rank right up there with Washington and California.</p>
<p>According to Kiplinger's affordability index, on a scale from 1-10 Portland is a 3 and every city in CA is at least an 8 with the big CA cities being 10s. Washington has some more expensive spots and they hover around a 5. Trust me, I've taken a hard look at cost of living in different places. Get out more oldman, Oregon is cheap! But unfortunately not a place to live if you're hopiong to be Intel's CEO.</p>
<p>I'm curious, does anyone know of any companies that offer full or partial tuition reimburstment if you sign on for so many years? Obviously the military does that, but are there any companies in the private sector that have that sort of benefit?</p>