No. Not the smart ones.
And my act is a 29.
Sat 1820.
Just a bit above average thats all.
My aunt is a doctor , owns her own rehab company , a millionare,
And still owes 800,000 in loans
And she is very smart
So i dont see your point
No, not everyone lives in debt. And debt is not necessarily a bad thing. Some of the people who are in debt (perhaps your aunt?) are using debt wisely and can comfortably afford the debt service. But to go into debt without a clear and certain means of repayment seems foolish, especially if there’s an alternative. If you and/or your parents borrow $100,000 to pay for school because you don’t want to currently liquidate some investments that are doing very well, that’s different from borrowing $100,000 because the family doesn’t have the income or the assets to pay for college. I wish you luck, but IMO if you go to LMU and take on huge loans, you’re headed down the wrong path to long term happiness. Sometimes you need to sacrifice short term gratification for long term well being.
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My aunt is a doctor , owns her own rehab company , a millionare, And still owes 800,000 in loans
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That is not comparable. That sounds like med school debt plus a business debt.
Thank you everyone.
My mom is not opening herself up to me taking a gap year at a cheaper cost with a friend in another country. I really want to spend my time wisely. This is tough.
But thank you everyone
You are from NY and you did not apply to any CUNY/SUNY schools that are not only affordable but are probably better schools. What does the offer that you cannot find at a more affordable option. You have been given an admit-deny; they admitted you but is not giving you the adit that makes it affordable to attend. Your step father would have to be financially eligible to co-sign loans every year.
To even entertain almost 200k in undergrad debt you would be committing financial suicide and he would just be a fool with a pen.
Find a more affordable option.
Are you eligible for TAP:Pell? How much
I think this student is “thinking wrong” because he’s looking at situations like his doctor-aunt who has a lot of debt from (sounds like) a combo of med school and business (building, equipment, etc). That business is likely bringing in 7 figures every year, so the debt is manageable. It’s just not comparable to this situation.
Long term this student is looking at $200k of debt for undergrad, plus $250k debt for law school…to possibly be an immigration attorney??? My gut tells me that they don’t earn the big bucks, and certainly not in the early years.
Others have given good advice. Since your mind seems made up, I only have one suggestion. Make the most of the next four years and create memories that last a lifetime. Take lots of pictures. Then when you have to leave CA since with the debt load you are considering it is highly likely you will not be able to afford to live in CA, you will have reminders of what the 200K was spent on. Be prepared to “chase the money” for the next 10-20 years to pay for your dream school. I know many people “chase the money” because they want to enjoy the rewards. You will be doing because you have no choice and the banks will be the ones enjoying. Sad but true.
I would look at your other options and then consider CA for grad school.
If this student wants Calif and law school, then go to Calif for law school. No need to rack up $200k of debt for undergrad…what a waste.
That would mean you have to go to law school. With a lot of undergrad debt, you honestly probably won’t be able to afford it.
Also, immigration lawyers often are not very high paid. So this is really no argument in favor of taking on a lot of undergraduate debt.
“immigration lawyers are not very highly paid.”
That’s what I thought. I imagine that many of their clients are rather low or modest income.
Immigration lawyers in private practice can make a lot of money. It just depends.
And once people get into law school, there is a system of hiring in place that starts after your second year. If you do well, you have choices to do things you didn’t understand or know about before law school.
Before he gets to law school he has to get out of undergrad. He needs an affordable option
just as @intparent makes that point that maybe the Harvard kid who needs to borrow might change his mind and pursue lower paying work, so too might the kid who goes to law school thinking immigration law (I’m assuming the kid has no idea of what that practice is really like) choose something else.
I’m betting more on the Harvard kid and thus my advice that it may be worth borrowing some amount for the right school … yeah $200K seems high for undergrad no matter the school … but it makes sense to be way more conservative for a much lower level school like LMU.
I see this all the time, where a school has a following in a particular area or with a particular crowd. Gonzaga in the PNW has that following … there are people who think it’s an IVY league equivalent, and those same people know next to nothing about Whitman, a much more rigorous and academically reputable school.
LMU is one of those schools. It’s a nice little school, but I’d do barely more than walk across the street to attend it. I sure as heck would not go into six figure debt for it.
Everyone does not live in debt. I don’t. I (and my husband) paid off my small student loans within a year or two of school. We only had loans in my name, something like 20-22k and that was it.
We paid off our 30 year home mortgage in 10 years because we didn’t buy the most expensive home we qualified for and instead bought the nicest house we felt we could reasonably afford.
We’ve never had a car loan (or furniture or whatever else you can finance). We again but a vehicle that we feel is a reasonable cost and keep it until the upkeep makes a newer car more affordable.
We have never carried a balance on our credit card from one month to the next. We only got the credit card to build a credit history and be able to rent cars on vacation. We never spend more than we have available in the bank.
Our parents and at least some family members live exactly the same way. So again, not everyone lives in debt.
I think this student doesn’t understand debt. There’s a difference between an affordable home mortgage, med school debt, or reasonable business debt…and borrowing $200k for undergrad (totally unnecessary, dangerous, and risky.)
I’m still can’t get my head around the idea that the stepdad has said that he’ll cosign. Either he hasn’t done the math to figure out the future payments, or he doesn’t realize that HE could end up with that debt.
There are loan calculators online that you can run to see how much exactly you will have to fork out each month…or attempt to fork out each month…this could maybe put it in perspective…I know it’s hard cuz everyone has dream schools…but emotions/feelings should not get in the way of the facts…which is that you will make a devastating decision…
Is community college for a year an option?
I think a problem with loan calculators is that the numbers aren’t real to an 18 year old. They don’t really know their likely salary, what thinkgs like taxes & insurance will take out, rent costs, etc.