There are a lot of professional jobs that a history major can get that pay a lot more than 20K per year. Money isn’t everything in life- but there’s nothing wrong with encouraging a kid with a liberal arts bent to explore more lucrative careers. And deciding “I don’t LOVE the idea of working in the management training program for XYZ hotels or ABC rental car or EFG property/casualty insurance company, but for a starting salary of 40K plus benefits and the chance to advance quickly, which will help me retire my debt- I can suck it up for a few years”.
Heck- teaching at a private school (no certification required in most states, just a subject matter BA) can pay 40k with health insurance for a new grad. Add debate coach, yearbook, or soccer to that and you’re at 45K with only a few extra hours a week of commitment.
Sleepaway college is not an entitlement, but a necessity sometimes. We have an instate pharmacy school 2 hrs, 2 1/2 hrs, 3 hrs and 4 hrs away from home. Similar distances for dental, medical and law school. Not all pre-professional classes can be taken at the commutable school.
But my D went to the school that gave her a full tuition scholarship for 4 of the 6 years, so she should graduate with the least amount of debt possible for her career path.
There’s another reason NOT to borrow more than federal loans: if you’re only making $20k a year, you can do IBR and the loan payments will be fairly reasonable. Private loans offer no such perks (at least that I’m aware of).
Further, you can get loan forgiveness depending on what job you work post-graduation.
I don’t have an aversion to borrowing the $5,500 or so - but I don’t want to also take a plus loan which seems expensive. For my two oldest I think paying for college with loans is better than buying a car, but it the total debt should be less than they expect to earn in their first job…so I am aiming for less than $30k each.
Do you think going to a more prestigious college, which usually but not always is more expensive, leads to a higher income?
How risk averse are you? What if the kid flunks out their senior year and spends the rest of their life as a Starbucks barista? How much debt is sustainable on that income?