<p>My family is not expected to qualify for much financial aid, if any, but times are tough and there is no way my parents can foot the entire bill. I will work during the summers and during school, but I am afraid that that money will not put a dent in the total cost. </p>
<p>I will inevitably have to take out loans ...so my question is...how much is a reasonable amount for me to be able to pay off without a significant burden? I also hope to go to law school and would need to save money after college for that. Is it possible to pay off college debts AND save for law school?</p>
<p>It really depends on what your undergrad degree will allow you to do, and what the starting salaries in that field is. For example, if you’re going engineering + JD it should be easier for you to find a better paying job than say history + JD. Obviously, it also depends what your lifestyle will be like during the save and pay period. Will you share an apartment or live with family? You could also do a little research on job availability and salary levels for your “first” profession.
There’s a loan calculator here that will estimate starting salaries in various fields for you and recommend a maximum debt level:
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Student Loan Advisor - Undergraduate Students](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>
<p>I think it depends on what you’re willing to pay back. How much are you willing to shell out every month? How much debt are you willing to have to your name? For me, it’s $40,000. That’s my maximum. For others, it’s $17,000 and for still others it’s $100,000. You could get an education for less than $10,000 if you spent two years at a community college and then transfered to a state school. Is that what you want to do? If you want to go to a private school, expect to incur a LOT of debt.</p>
<p>I agree with the above and have to say something else.</p>
<p>I did the calculator and it says:</p>
<p>It is recommended that you borrow no more than $24,857.16 per year (for four years), for a total educational debt of $99,428.65 . If you borrow more than this amount, you may find your monthly loan payments too burdensome. Please note that these figures are not targets. The less money you borrow, the better off you’ll be. Live like a student while you are in school, so you don’t have to live like a student after you graduate.</p>
<p>Now, I am going to be borrowing way less than that. I only am going to school for 3 years. (Because I am starting out part time the first year.) Everyone has a different level of loan debt they are willing to take on and every one is going to make different money when they graduate. </p>
<p>I’d like to know what calculator you used, because $99K in debt is insane. Was it one on a site sponsored by a company that provides educational loans, perchance?</p>
<p>Incurring that much debt for undergrad, and I don’t care WHAT the degree is in, is crazy. The ONLY way that would be a reasonable amount of debt would be if the student already had $75K or more in cash or convertible assets that could be used to pay down or off the debt immediately after graduation.</p>
<p>I would strongly advise keeping total debt for undergrad to no more than $25K. $40K is a lot of debt for an undergrad degree.</p>
<p>I was told only take out 10% of what you anticipate your starting salary to be per year.</p>
<p>So: if you anticipate your starting salary to be 50,000 take up to 5,000 worth of loans each year. If your starting salary will be 30,000 you should take up to 3,000 worth of loans each year. You should have a pretty good idea of what your starting salary is by researching the jobs you are considering on the internet.</p>
<p>With 24k borrowed each year…think about how much interest is going to accumulate while you are scraping by to make the monthly payments. Most of that loan balance will be from private loans…but even using Stafford Loan interest rates, that’s over $37k in interest and a monthly payment of more than $1100. The longer it is extended, the more it totals…and can easily double or triple. Not advisable for most careers.</p>
<p>In post #3 I did the calculator at that site. Of course I will never in a million years actually borrow $99K. I am expecting to borrow 1/3 of that for my entire college education. It said that at the $99K it would be something like $580 a month for the payments. If I am making $46K a year then I will have that well under control. Of course divide that into 1/3 and that is totally manageable.</p>
<p>I will be taking out about $9K a year and they will be Perkins and subsidized loans…zero interest till I finish school and get a job.</p>
<p>inspiringmind - What did you use as a loan repayment term? The monthly payment sounded a lit low on the max debt of $99K. Using 5% interest (Perkins rate only) and 10 years, the calculator comes up with a payment of $1,054/month. Obviously the stafford rates are higher and would increase the payment.</p>