is $130,000 in student loans bad or good in my case?

Paying for College
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<p>A couple of tales, FWIW.</p>

<p>Two long-time independent small-town (2,000 and 5,000 population towns) pharmacies in our area have closed in recent years. One of the owners is now working for Walmart, the other for Walgreens. The guy who would up at Walmart, I interviewed at the time he was closing his shop (after nearly 30 years in business). He said that the pressure on pricing from the big insurance companies was just too much, that it was impossible to make any money on a business whose main source of income was prescriptions, as opposed to general merchandise.</p>

<p>OTOH, another independent pharmacy I know (in a town of about 15,000) is doing quite well - in spite of the fact that a new Walgreens opened literally across the street from them a couple of years ago and that a new Walmart pharmacy opened in the same town a year or so ago. There are usually four of five pharmacy techs behind the counter working at any one time, and they fill prescriptions 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Part of the success, however, is that they have a very active package liquor business and also run the local Radio Shack franchise out of the same store.</p>

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<p>It is not as simple a question as it may seem. To you the student, coming from a family with very low income, the chance to make the kind of money that a pharmacist makes is very, very appealing. You are looking at the end result after 6 years and the loans as an investment with a good return. What many parents here are seeing is that you are taking a real chance and could end up tanking your family’s credit and possible opportunities as well as personally owing a huge amount of money, and not getting through the program. </p>

<p>First of all, as many have said, all that YOU can borrow is $5500 this year in your name alone UNLESS your parent is denied the PLUS. YOU cannot borrow through PLUS, only your parents can, and if they do not have a decent credit history, they will be declined. If they are turned down, you can borrow an additional $4k through Stafford, but that is it for you. </p>

<p>There are private sources that may lend to you WITH a credit worthy co signer. The cosigner is equally liable for what you borrow and it goes on his/her credit report as well as yours. THere is a whole thread of the advantages and disadvantages of the private route. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that if your parents are denied under PLUS, you and they will be highly unlikely to get favorable rates or terms, if you get anything through private loans. SUch loans are not dischargeable by bankruptcy and can cause issues for your cosigner if they have such amounts outstanding on their credit reports in terms of jobs, housing, their own borrowing needs. Also these loans will not be paid off for a very long time under the best of scenarios, so they can cause a lot of damage to those who are on shaky footing already financially.</p>

<p>I know a half dozen people who did not make it through the pharmacy program, two specifically from ST John’s. THe attrition rate is high for many of these science/math/engineering majors. I know even more who did not get thorugh such programs or other specialty programs and those who borrowed in anticipation of employment paying loans taken are really in bad shape right now. One is a DD of a friend from years, and it is hurting the family terribly. The parents lost several opportunities because they signed private loans for their DD that are now in default and no one can afford to make the payments. You can die, become disabled, or dropout–the three D’s that can leave your family on the hook for the amounts borrowed. THe source of funds can also stop at any time for any reason when you are only part way through the program. The costs are high for these programs and will get only higher.</p>

<p>As a mom with 5 kids and some situations that are uncertain, I could not justify taking a chance like that on a child unless he were top student material who really wanted to do this. Not if this were the only slim chance he had for success, because too much for too many others would ride on that. And we are not an EFC zero family who could probably ride out the loans. I would want the student to go to a more affordable program and when he has shown that he has the stuff to take science courses successfully in college, then I would likely help him with graduate school funding in whatever such field. He would have shown he could do it. THe stats are just too high for kids dropping out, having issues or just losing interest in any program. You guys are barely adults, just 18 years old and to expect you to make a career commitment at this time seems unreasonable to me. I think I’d have better odds at Reno in terms of gambling on that commitment. </p>

<p>So you see why I would not want to sign for $100K in loans for such a venture? I have one promising son fail out of college, another lose his scholarship, and even my diligent ones hit snags. It’s a normal and natural thing. And most college students change their minds about what they want to do while in college. To ask your family to sign away a lot of their financial security on a chance like this, is really a selfish thing to do, even if they are willing to do it. Many parents have no idea what a gamble this is. At your age, you don’t either.</p>

<p>Can’t you take the courses to be pre pharmacy as inexpensively as possible and then apply for pharmacy school? At that point, the risks are far diminished and you can take out the loans as a grad student on your own and not risk your family’s credit.</p>