How much in loans should you have as an undergrad?

<p>I am overwhelmed by the cost of college but understand it is an investment I am willing to make. I plan on pursuing a 2 year Masters program following graduate school, so I was wondering in your opinion, how much is too much to have in undergrad loans? Where does investment turn into unnecessary excess? Just looking for some opinions thanks!</p>

<p>The Stafford Fed loans are about the max a student should have…so about $27k total for undergrad.</p>

<p>Frosh 5500
soph 6500
jr 7500
sr 7500</p>

<p>What is your career goal and major?</p>

<p>how much do you think you’ll be earning upon graduation?</p>

<p>Also, consider that most students change their majors/career goals.</p>

<p>^ I agree with those numbers.</p>

<p>Is the masters program something that would be funded by a school or something you will need to pay for. If you will have to pay for it, minimize your undergrad debt as much as possible.</p>

<p>I would have to pay for grad school. When you say minimize, how low should I try to get the loan amounts? </p>

<p>How much will the grad school cost and how much in loans will you have to take out then? How much do you expect to earn starting out after you graduate? How certain are you that you will complete this program? Many students change majors and plans after they start college. They may think they will earn big bucks as a CS or engineering major and for whatever reason change to something that doesn’t pay as well or drop out and are left with debt they can’t handle.</p>

<p>If you do well in a lot of fields, you can compete for funded grad school or work and see if you can get employer to fund. </p>

<p>I agree with the Stafford loan amounts. Have seen many students switch majors in college and many going in a totally different direction than they had originally intended. </p>

<p>Many recent college grads are having A tough time landing well paid positions, in all fields, so keep debt low. </p>

<p>Adding, if you want to say what this program is, people can give you opinions as to how important it is as to which undergrad school you attend. For some programs it’s not very important at all, for some it’s more important. What matters in most cases is how you perform at whatever undergrad you attend.</p>

<p>Biology</p>

<p>The masters program is a general biology program or something more specific?</p>

<p>“Biology”</p>

<p>What is your career goal? there are a glut of bio majors. You can’t count on getting into a bio grad program.</p>

<p>Don’t make us pull info out post by post. Tell us your situation. how much will your parents pay? How much do you have to cover with loans? How much aid to you expect to get from your schools?</p>