<p>I'm an entering freshman of the class of 2015 with a very, very high EFC (99999). My parents can afford to pay the full cost of my public OOS college (43K per year), but they want to give me some financial responsibility, and I respect that. I will be working throughout college and throughout the summers. I will graduate in 2015 with approximately 15-20K in Stafford loans.</p>
<p>I am starting to get anxious because of all the student loan horror stories floating around of people who take out $100K in loans-- leading many to believe and argue that "loans are evil". I personally believe that while no debt is, of course, very preferable, $15K-$20K is manageable. Am I wrong? Is this proposed debt doable? Or should I already start composing a list of transfer schools?</p>
<p>$15-20k in loans is perfectly reasonable. My son has about $10k and is out in the workforce now and with his job should have no problem with the $100 a month payments. My daughter will have about $17k, maybe a little higher than I would like for her as I am not sure what her earning level potential will be in her major (zoology).</p>
<p>But really anything in those ranges is fairly reasonable.</p>
<p>Just to give yourself an idea of what your repayments would be, you should play around with the loan calculators on finaid.org.</p>
<p>A 100K student loan has a repayment cost of $1150 per month, while a 20K has a repayment of about $230. This is assuming at 10 year term, with interest rates at 6.8% (which is the current unsecured Stafford rate, I think). If you manage to secure a relatively high paying first job and earn $50K per year, after taxes you will take home about $3000 a month. While that sounds like a lot, it isn’t when you also consider that you will have all of the other bills adults have to pay, such as housing, food, car payments and insurance and all of the other things we have come to expect like cell phones, internet, going out with friends etc. If you had $100K in loans you would probably not be able to live independently and certainly wouldn’t be able to purchase a home for a long long time. </p>
<p>Most young people can probably manage to pay Stafford loans back, especially with the new income based repayment system. It’s the private loans that are evil. As a student you are being very wise to try to understand what you are getting yourself into.</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids, my parents want me to borrow $4-$5K yearly. The $1K difference would likely depend on my personal earnings and the fluxuation of my parents’ salaries.</p>
<p>Thank you Megmno, I have looked into those calculators. To support a loan of $15K, I’s have to make a salary of at least $25K after taxes. I think that is manageable, especially because I am considering a 3-5 year comitment to the Navy after college. Ensign’s (0-1 officers) typically make a starting salary of $32K, with benefits and very low living expenses.</p>
<p>If you’re considering the Navy, have you looked at NROTC programs? They’d pay your tuition and some living expenses. I believe there are also loan repayment programs if you go the OCS route post-bachelors.</p>
<p>Yes, my college has only AROTC, so I am considering OCS. I believe you are correct in that there are loan repayment programs, but I have not yet spoken to a recruiter to get more information on that. I need to speak with the head of the military science dept. to see if any uiversities nearby offer NROTC. </p>
<p>But as the NROTC route is not a certainty, I want to know if it is possible to pay off these loans without military service.</p>