<p>What is the typical debt after graduation for a private school? I am choosing between two schools: USC and OSU. USC is giving me ~28,000 in grants/scholarship/aid and OSU is giving me ~14,000. However USC's tuition is 47,000 and OSU's is 21,000, meaning I pay 18,000/ year for USC and 7,000/year for OSU. My parents will not help me out so really I'm on my own. Thus far I think I might have $200. That's it. Obviously OSU seems like the better choice, financially, but I'm really set on USC. So would a $72,000 debt be normal or manageable? I mean it seems insane to me that people would actually sustain that kind of debt but really the full price of college is 160,000+ and some people do actually end up paying something close to that. Basically I'm under the impression that the typical college debt is over 100,000. Is my perception wrong? Do you think it would be "worth" it to go to USC? Thank you for your comments.</p>
<p>Which school is better for your major? What is the average salary that you could earn with that major?</p>
<p>Perhaps you could go to OSU for the first two years and then transfer into USC, thus minimizing some debt?</p>
<p>I'm getting 18k a year from USC and that means if I went there I would be 120k in debt, and my parents say they will pay for half of that and I wonder how much that would kill me in case I wanted to do grad school. I can go to Arizona State for almost free and UW for pretty cheap, too, but I got into the Cinema-Television school, so I can't just go somewhere else and transfer.</p>
<p>It'd be helpful if you got advice from current/past USC students, but here's my take... when I went to the USC receptions/events, they, admin officers and students alike, kept emphasizing the "Trojan Family/Alumni association" and I think that that will play a big part in the future. Although we might have mounting loans to pay, the job opportunities available for us when we graduate should help compensate. Also, I think it really depends on what youre going to major in at USC and if you could benefit from living in L.A.</p>
<p>OF COURSE IT'S WORTH IT, IT'S USC!</p>
<p>you don't even want to know the debt I'm going to be in =)</p>
<p>Here's a cool undergraduate loan calculator, so you can see how much different amounts of debt look like in terms of monthly repayment after you graduate. It also has info about starting salaries in different fields.</p>
<p>If you dig around in the site, there is also info about average indebtedness in different fields after graduation. Fascinating info. Personally, I think it's important to recognize that debt will stay with you like a heavy prison ball until the day it's finally totally paid off. </p>
<p>If you carry too much debt, you seriously limit your future options for jobs, being able to purchase a home, have a car, consider grad/pro school, raise a family, or any of the many things in life that cost money. Discuss this carefully with your folks--it's getting tougher & tougher to discharge any debt, even in bankruptcy.</p>
<p>while that is true, isn't it becoming commonplace these days for students to take out such enormous loans? does this mean that a part of this generation is going to be sacked down by loans, or are they going to be keen enough to look for high paying jobs to wipe out the debt?
i know that some students (like myself) have no choice but to take out loans for school, and therefore, would appreciate any advice on how to handle the situation after graduation, and what we can do now to minimize loan debt.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is that the cost of college goes up a lot each year! For instance USC's tuition went up 5.9% this year. You might end up having to borrow more than $18,000 per year. Check out the calculator HiMom posted. It really is useful.</p>
<p>thank you. i know for a fact that i will definitely be borrowing more than 18,000 a year, which isn't really a choice at this point. i checked out the calculator, which was useful.</p>
<p>i'm in the same situation as someone else in regards to not turning down CNTV's offer of admission. i recieve a full ride to emerson, but decided that USC would get me a better job and a better chance of a high-name grad school. at this rate, with the loans from USC, i'll be about $20,000 in debt. however, i might have to take out some more loans if certain scholarship offers do not come through.</p>
<p>it IS a bit disconcerting---for me especially---seeing how writers make jack***** for the first few years of their career. i hope i just pull an f scott and skyrocket to fame with my first book or something like that.</p>
<p>What kind of job do you want to do?</p>
<p>Where do you want to work?</p>
<p>USC will help you in many cases, but if you want to work instate the Trojan family is significantly reduce. Even in California, the alumni are not going to offer you a job that will help compensate for all the debt. There's a good difference between USC and UC Riverside. However, graduating straight out of USC will not land you a $70,000 starting salary (it might, but not for most people).</p>
<p>However, in cases such as film (director, producer, broadcast journalism, etc) USC will help you a lot more than ASU.</p>
<p>That's very helpful info coming from someone who goes to UCLA. LOL.</p>
<p>Depends on what your major, what you want to do post-graduation, how much pay typical graduates get from your major, etc.</p>
It’s 10 years later, what did you choose and how’d it work out? I got into USC and UCSB. I’m choosing which one to choose. I want to go to USC, but the debt is scaring me.
@lawbrained, it’s most likely these posters from 10 years ago are long gone from CC. Just reading their misguided thinking ($100,000 in debt???) gives me a stomach ache. No 17 year old should assume that will be easy to pay off. You will instead spend about 20 years paying back college when you should be investing in your future. And really, SCA (where some of these students were admitted) is a less likely major to “pay off.” Engineering or Business are a different story, but film/tv??? I chuckled at the Zeldafitzgerald above who thought screenwriters don’t make much money for a few years. Um, the majority don’t make a lot of money in screenwriting… ever. Ever. So be smart and don’t get yourself into big debt people!
Dang I fell for it again, started reading a 10 year old thread.
@lawbrained Great topic and would be glad to provide some input, but how about starting a new thread so we don’t all read 10 year old posts that aren’t relevant and get confused?!
@skieurope can we shut this down and begin again?
Yup. Closed for reason mentioned above. Start a new thread if needed.